The Spiritual Outlook 






Willard C. Selleck 







0assER.jJ5.__ 

Boflk_Q_5LS_5S. 

Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE SPIRITUAL OUTLOOK 



THE 



SPIRITUAL OUTLOOK 



A SURVEY 

OF 

THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF OUR TIME 
AS RELATED TO PROGRESS 



BY 



WILLARD CHAMBERLAIN SELLECK 



l> 



BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
1902 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

SEP. 25 1902 

COPVWWHT ENTRY 

CLASS £- XXa Na 
COPY B. 



BTfiiff 

.G5S35 



Copyright, 1902, 
By Little, Brown, and Company. 



All rights reserved. 



Published October, 1902, 



. 



UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON 



AND SON 



CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A, 







r 



I 



TO 

jJHg jjatfjer anb JHotfjn:, 

TO WHOM I CANNOT BE GRATEFUL ENOUGH FOR THE 
BOON OF EXISTENCE, 

AND FOR THE LOVE THAT SHELTERED MY INFANCY, 

I INSCRIBE THIS, MY FIRST PUBLISHED 
VOLUME, 

WITH PROFOUND HONOR AND AFFECTION. 




PREFACE. 

|HIS book undertakes a study of some 
of the most prominent religious as- 
pects of modern progress. It seeks 
to discover and appraise the vital, spiritual 
values in our developing civilization. It does 
not profess to be complete in its presentation 
of existing conditions or its indication of cur- 
rent tendencies, but it is as comprehensive as 
the limits of a small volume easily allow ; while, 
on the other hand, it is hoped that it will not 
be found too general to be profitable for inspira- 
tion. It aims to be constructive by appreciating 
facts that are encouraging, by justly interpret- 
ing positive results already reached, and by 
pointing out the direction in which the noblest 
ideals of the present age are luring us still 
further forward, together with some of the 



ii Preface 



practical steps which need immediately to be 
taken if those ideals are to be realized. 

The high importance of the subjects here 
treated and the serious endeavor to deal with 
them candidly, albeit very briefly, may entitle 
these pages to the respectful attention of those 
who love Truth more than favorite systems, 
and who believe that at the heart of all systems 
are influences which have the promise and 
potency of some real blessing for mankind. 
The prevailing tone of the work is sympathetic 
and optimistic, although there is no flinching 
from the task of severe criticism where it is 
honestly thought to be required. The author 
believes thoroughly in both the intellectual and 
the moral helpfulness of perfect frankness, 
when conjoined with knowledge, justice, and 
absolute sincerity. 

If this little volume shall give a true insight 
into the spiritual significance of our modern 
life, for the guidance of religious teachers and 
the comfort of the taught, amid the changes 
and perplexities of a time that has been called 



Preface iii 



" an age of doubt " and also " an age of faith," 
but that may be even more accurately charac- 
terized as an age of expansion and reconstruc- 
tion, the labor of love devoted to its preparation 
will be amply rewarded. 

Willard Chamberlain Selleck. 



Providence, R. I., 

Eastertide, 1902. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Introduction 9 

Roman Catholicism as a Factor in Modern 
Civilization 17 

The Contribution of Protestantism to Spir- 
itual and Social Progress 49 

The Spiritual Influence of Modern Edu- 
cation 77 

The Present Stage of Theological Prog- 
ress 105 

The Place of Christianity among the 
World's Religions, and the Meaning of 
Christian Missions 137 

The Spiritual Significance of Christian 
Science 167 

The Influence of Universalism and Unita- 
rianism 201 

Current Ethical Standards, and the Needed 
Moral Emphasis in Religious Teaching . 231 

The Spiritual Element in Social Service 263 

Christian Co-operation, or the New Align- 
ment of the Churches 283 

The Outlook for Spiritual Religion . . 319 



The world needs to know, when it speaks of physical 
discovery and material progress, that discovery itself is 
never physical, and that progress itself is always spiritual. 
— Edward Everett Hale. 



From the point of view of the spirit, the progress of 
history is measured, not by the spread of material 
conquests or the accumulation of the equipment of civil- 
ization, but by the transformation of the universe into 
the life of the spirit, by the progressive emancipation 
of the individual, and the deepening and widening of 
the content of his personal life. — Edward Howard 
Griggs, The New Humanism. 




INTRODUCTION. 

HE opening of the twentieth century 
has given occasion for many reviews 
and estimates of modern progress. 
Naturally they have dealt mainly with those 
outward phenomena in which recent develop- 
ment has been most striking. But the student 
of spiritual interests is sure that there is another 
story to tell which is not less inspiring, and 
which really interprets all else that is narrated. 
He rejoices in every achievement of the race 
whereby it has more completely mastered the 
material realm, and in every intellectual attain- 
ment whereby the domain of knowledge has 
been enlarged ; but he believes that all such 
accomplishments find their highest consumma- 
tion in a clearer disclosure of the divine meaning 
of human existence. Accordingly he looks at 
the history of the world from a religious point 
of view, sees it in a light that glorifies it with a 



10 The Spiritual Outlook. 

transcendent purpose, and desires to show how 
the struggles and triumphs of the ages are em- 
braced in a Spiritual Providence that makes 
them culminate in the spiritual advancement of 
mankind. It is the object of the following 
pages to afford a few glimpses of this sublime 
spectacle. 

The theme of these chapters, then, is religion, 
but religion in a broad sense, — as a living 
reality, a spiritual force, lying back of all its in- 
stitutions, and included in the general civilization 
of our time. There may be those who conceive 
that religion is obsolescent ; yet it is not religion 
that is obsolescent, but merely some of the tran- 
sient forms in which it has found expression, 
some of the ideas which have been associated 
with it, and some of the uses to which it has 
been put. Religion itself is as imperishable as 
the soul of man ; it is the vital spirit beneath all 
our thoughts and toils and tendencies ; it is the 
life of God in the lives of human beings who are 
made in His image. As such it is not losing its 
power in the world, although it may be working 
in new directions; and I shall hope to show 
that the changes which are taking place in some 



Introduction. 11 



of its manifestations and agencies, while attended 
by incidental losses and dangers, are in the main 
fraught with vast spiritual gain for universal 
mankind. 

If religion is included in general civilization, 
let us ask what civilization is. The word is not 
easily defined because it has a variable significa- 
tion, denoting different things in different eras 
and among different races. But we shall get a 
sufficiently clear idea of its meaning if we say 
that it represents the ideals which a given 
people may cherish and also the extent to which 
they are realized in the organized social life of 
the time. In Matthew Arnold's felicitous phrase, 
"civilization is the humanization of man in 
society. Man is civilized when the whole body 
of society comes to live with a life worthy to be 
called human, and corresponding to man's true 
aspirations and powers." Speaking of " the 
means by which man is brought towards this goal 
of his endeavor," he says : " I put first among 
the elements in human civilization the instinct of 
expansion, because it is the basis which man's 
whole effort to civilize himself presupposes. . . . 
The basis being given, we may rapidly enumerate 



12 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the powers which, upon this basis, contribute to 
build up human civilization. They are the 
power of conduct, the power of intellect and 
knowledge, the power of beauty, the power of 
social life and manners. Expansion, conduct, 
science, beauty, manners, — here are the condi- 
tions of civilization, the claimants which man 
must satisfy before he can be humanized." 1 

Accepting this account of what civilization 
implies, and remembering that religion is in- 
cluded in it under the term conduct as Mr. 
Arnold employs it, we shall need to keep our 
minds open to these various aspects of human 
development if our study of present spiritual 
phenomena is to have much value. In pursu- 
ing a single line of interest we must guard 
against narrowing our view by recollecting that 
there are other lines ; and it will be well to 
recollect also that the advance of civilization 
may not be contemporaneously co-equal on all 
the several lines, — that, in fact, there is often 
retrogression along some, while there is progress 
along others. If, therefore, we discover that 
certain traditional customs and influences are 

1 Mixed Essays, 1883. 



Introduction. 13 



waning, let us not hastily conclude that the 
world is going to ruin. What we have to deal 
with is the whole spiritual movement of our 
age, and what we particularly desire is to see 
how religion is involved in this, both helping 
ifc and being helped by it. 

For there is really such a movement in the 
life of our time. Our present civilization, what- 
ever its faults, is not stagnant. Everywhere 
there is activity, and it is not mainly outward ; 
indeed our marvellous material developments 
are the fruit of an inner development which is 
essentially spiritual. Knowledge has been grow- 
ing, thought broadening, skill increasing, wealth 
accumulating, and the race as a whole rising; 
and now at length a larger life is bursting upon 
us all. A new sense of greatness is coming to 
us, new hopes fill our hearts, and new endeavors 
engage our hands. We feel that the present is 
an epoch in human history, — a moment which 
is full of the culminations of the past, and equally 
full of beginnings for the future. Thus, as we 
shall have frequent occasion to note, it is a tran- 
sitional period of vast importance ; and while it 
involves the breaking up of some systems and 



14 The Spiritual Outlook. 

institutions which have filled a large place in the 
world, and will lead to the creation of new ones 
instead, we shall mistake seriously if we do not 
see that the very soul of this whole transforma- 
tion is a spiritual expansion. Man is coming to 
a nobler conception of himself as a spiritual 
being, and of the universe as a spiritual home ; 
and he is engaged in making over all his other 
conceptions and the external forms in which he 
expresses his thought and feeling, in order to 
harmonize himself with the new vision and the 
new environment. For the time being the proc- 
ess may seem like disintegration, but it is really 
reconstruction ; it may seem like degeneration, 
but it is really development for mankind at 
large ; and the religious element in it will not 
only play its part, but will surely receive its full 
share of the benefits, in the production of a 
higher, fairer, finer civilization than has prevailed 
hitherto. 



ROMAN CATHOLICISM AS A FACTOR 
IN MODERN CIVILIZATION. 



THE 

SPIRITUAL OUTLOOK 




ROMAN CATHOLICISM AS A FACTOR 
IN MODERN CIVILIZATION. 

HEN we come to consider the place of 
religion in our modern civilization, one 
of the first great facts to confront us is 
Roman Catholicism. No other religious instru- 
mentality has entered so largely into the produc- 
tion of this civilization ; no other touches it at 
so many points ; no other has such inherited 
resources for dealing with its multitudinous prob- 
lems. Whether we regard the sphere of its oper- 
ation as lying in Europe or in the Americas, we 
must recognize its influence as having been inex- 
tricably bound up with the fortunes of all these 
Western nations. Of the 452.000,000 Chris- 
tians in the entire world, 210,000,000 are Roman 
Catholics, 92,000,000 Greek, and 150,000,000 
Protestant. Of the 210,000,000 Roman Cath- 

2 



18 The Spiritual Outlook. 

olics, 154,000,000 are in Europe, and about 
12,000,000, according to Catholic authority, are 
in the United States — including men, women, 
and children. Of course the great bulk of the 
population of South America and Central Amer- 
ica, as far as it has been Christianized at all, is 
Roman Catholic ; and the Church of Rome has 
her missions in nearly every land where any 
other Christian missionaries have gone. Plainly 
a power that exerts so wide a sway must be seri- 
ously reckoned with in discussing the spiritual 
conditions, forces, and tendencies of our age ; and 
therefore it should be truly understood. 

There is, however, a great deal of misunder- 
standing regarding this subject. For, on the 
one hand, many excellent people appear to take 
it for granted that Roman Catholicism is anti- 
quated, effete, and sure to lose ground as popular 
intelligence increases ; while, on the other hand, 
large numbers of sincere persons believe it to be 
the greatest menace to our modern civil and 
religious liberties and to general progress with 
which we have to contend. Both of these views, 
in my judgment, are mainly erroneous, and I 
proceed to explain why. 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 19 

1. Before we take for granted the feebleness 
and prospective decline of Roman Catholicism, 
we shall do well to look about us and see what 
is going on. See how strongly it establishes its 
churches and cathedrals in our great centres of 
population, as if they were to endure for ages ; 
what vast properties it acquires, in real estate 
and auxiliary buildings ; with what sagacity and 
efficiency, it conducts its work, distributing its 
forces by a comprehensive parish system, utiliz- 
ing each church for several congregations per- 
haps, and ministering to the needs of its people 
by a large staff of clergy and a number of trained 
assistants. See how diligently it instructs its 
children, watching, following, holding them, and 
doing everything to train them up to be faithful 
communicants ; how it segregates them, as far 
as possible, and puts them into its parochial 
schools ; how it multiplies and strengthens its 
colleges, in order to offer adequate inducements 
for its young men to withdraw from all other 
higher institutions of learning ; and what a great 
university it is building up in Washington to 
crown its own vast educational system. See its 
religious orders, — its sisterhoods with their con- 



20 The Spiritual Outlook. 

vents, its brotherhoods and associations with 
their various activities, all infused with the spirit 
of devotion ; see likewise its humanitarian agen- 
cies, — its orphanages, hospitals, and asylums, 
never better administered than now. Finally, 
see how bold and enterprising, how alert and 
far-seeing is its attitude toward the new devel- 
opments and opportunities of this western 
hemisphere, — how quickly it adjusts its admin- 
istration of its own interests to the change of 
government in Cuba and Porto Rico ; how favor- 
ably it looks on the principle of religious liberty 
guaranteed by the Constitution of the United 
States, because it insures a free field and no 
favor ; how confidently it expects to have an un- 
paralleled career of growth and power in this 
great country ; and how industriously it is pros- 
ecuting at present its missions to non-Catholics, 
aggressively seeking to make converts by the 
direct work of the Paulist Fathers. In view of 
these facts we can hardly admit that there is 
either weakness or inefficiency on the part of 
Roman Catholicism in our day. On the con- 
trary, so far is the Roman Church from showing 
any signs of senility that I do not know where 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 21 

else to look, throughout Christendom, for a 
fresher vigor than she has exhibited during the 
illustrious pontificate of Leo XIII. 

2. Regarding the alleged danger which Ro- 
man Catholicism forebodes to American institu- 
tions, it may be said that there is not half the 
ground for apprehension which is usually sup- 
posed to exist. In all fairness let us ask what 
Roman Catholicism is in the world for. To 
perpetuate itself, to extend its dominion, to 
direct the course of civilization ? Yes, in a 
considerable degree ; that is what every church 
is in the world for, partly. But why does the 
Roman Church want to do this ? Because she 
honestly believes she is Divinely ordained to this 
momentous business, — to teach men, to control 
men, to train men, in order that she may save 
them. Deep down in her heart, she seeks the 
good of mankind, according to her understand- 
ing of it : she wants to overcome the ruin caused 
by sin, to establish righteousness in the earth, 
to build the kingdom of heaven and make it 
universal. This is what we all want to do. 
She works according to her conceptions of the 
truth and what she regards as the supreme needs 



22 The Spiritual Outlook. 

of human beings. In my opinion she widely 
and fundamentally misconceives the truth, as I 
shall try to indicate later on ; but I believe her 
to be as sincere as any other church, and to be 
genuinely devoted to the moral welfare of indi- 
viduals and nations. She sees the misery which 
sin entails everywhere, the evils that blight the 
souls of men, the corruptions that undermine the 
fabric of civilization ; she is anxious for the safety, 
the eternal salvation, of little children, of youths 
and maidens, of old men and women ; she feels 
the burdens of the poor, the hardships of the 
toiling masses, the awful woe of the victims of 
vice and crime ; and, according to her concep- 
tion of the help they need, she reaches out her 
strong hand, in the name of Jesus Christ, to up- 
lift and redeem them. Thus she works, or 
means to work, for the good of the world ; she 
is the foe of wickedness, setting her face like a 
flint against unrighteousness, recognizing sin as a 
terrible reality, and seeking in her own way to 
counteract where she cannot prevent it. She 
aims to educate mankind in the fear of God, and 
she feels that she alone is empowered of God to 
be a sufficient bulwark against the destructive 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 23 

forces of moral evil that assail the children of 
men. Because of this mighty faith in her heart, 
however mistakenly founded, however unwar- 
ranted in its boastfulness, and because of the 
magnificent organization with which she seeks 
to fulfil what she conceives to be her mission, I 
cannot but regard the Church of Rome, in spite 
of her errors, as a tremendous agency for pre- 
serving and extending, in the main, the great 
interests of our Christian civilization. We could 
ill afford to get along without her, if it were 
possible ; and for a few additional reasons, which 
I cannot take time to consider here but to which 
I may allude before I close, I look to see her 
influence increase, during the next half-century 
at least, as it has never before done in America. 

If it be asked what are the principal sources 
of the marvellous power of Roman Catholicism, 
I must answer by simply mentioning them, with- 
out much comment. They are, I think, such as 
these : Its antiquity, having existed ever since 
the days of the apostles, and possessing thus the 
charm which everything hoary, august, and sacred 
has for the human mind ; its inheritance of the 



24 The Spiritual Outlook. 

spirit, not a little of the form, and somewhat of 
the splendor of the Roman Empire and the 
riches of the pagan civilization which it em- 
bodied, — so that we may justly say that the 
soul of the Roman Empire lives on in the Ro- 
man Catholic Church, and still rules the world 
in a wonderful way ; its cosmopolitan character, 
by virtue of which it continually carries the 
whole world in mind, addresses itself to the 
needs of all races, in spite of their diversity, 
and unites them all in its worship, its ideas, and 
its discipline ; its long experience in dealing 
with inferior peoples, subduing the savage, civil- 
izing the barbarian, restraining violence, and in- 
culcating higher ideals of justice and mercy, — 
out of which, of course, has come an infinite 
fund of wisdom and courage; its splendid or- 
ganization, built up and perfected through this 
vast and varied experience, until it may be said 
to be the most complete, as it is the most potent, 
single organization on earth ; its manifold minis- 
try to human nature, touching it not alone on the 
religious side, but also on the ethical side, the in- 
tellectual side, the aesthetic side, and quickening 
every better impulse by which man is prompted 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 25 

to live out a fuller and truer life ; its very 
definite system of teaching, made palpable and 
imposing to rude minds, coherent and logical 
to others, so that no one is left to drift or be 
storm-driven on the sea of vague speculation ; 
its use of the great principle of authority, to 
which — say what we will — the multitudes of 
men defer, and upon which they feel themselves 
dependent ; and, above all, its proclamation, 
however crudely and erroneously, of the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ, — telling the story of his life, 
celebrating its events in music, painting, and 
sculpture, setting forth his teachings, inculcating 
somewhat of his spirit, and by all these influ- 
ences attaching people to him by attaching them 
to his visible and holy Church on earth. 

Let me supplement this my own account of 
the main sources of the power of Roman Catholi- 
cism by a brief quotation from each of two very 
competent judges, neither more friendly than I. 
Says James Anthony Froude : u The strength of 
Romanism lay where it still lies, in the craving 
of human nature for authoritative certainty about 
religion and our own souls. Death, when our 
short lives are over, lies before all of us as an 



26 The Spiritual Outlook. 

inevitable fact, — death and the consciousness of 
the many sins which we have all committed. To 
make existence tolerable, some fixed belief seems 
necessary as to the meaning of life and as to our 
condition hereafter. Such a belief Romanism, 
with all its faults, professed to give, and if the 
authority of Rome was overthrown, there seemed 
nothing before any one but blank darkness." 1 
The other writer is Matthew Arnold, who says : 
"Men conscious of a bent for being modest, 
temperate, kindly, affectionate, find themselves 
shameless, dissolute, living in malice and envy, 
hateful and hating one another. The experience 
is as old as the world, and the misery of it. 
And it is no cure whatever to be told that the 
Pope is not infallible, or that miracles do not 
happen ; but a cure, a divine cure, for the bond- 
age and the misery, has been found for nearly 
two thousand years to lie in the word, the 
character, the influence of Jesus. In this cure 
resides the power and the permanence of the 
Christian religion. . . . And if there is a thing 
specially alien to religion, it is divisions; if 
there is a thing specially native to religion, it 

1 Council of Trent, p. 55. 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 27 

is peace and union. Hence the original attrac- 
tion towards unity in Rome, and hence the great 
charm and power for men's minds of that unity 
when once attained. All these spells for the 
heart and imagination has Catholicism to Catho- 
lics in addition to the spell for the conscience of 
a divine cure for vice and misery. And whoever 
treats Catholicism as a nuisance, to be helped to 
die out as soon as possible, has the heart, the 
imagination, and the conscience of Catholics in 
just revolt against him." * 

And yet, after all this appreciation, which I 
do not abate and in which I am perfectly can- 
did, I must say with equal candor that I think 
Roman Catholicism false and baneful in at least 
three or four important respects. 

I. I believe its theory of the nature and work 
of Christianity to be grossly erroneous. What is 
that theory ? Briefly stated, it is as follows : 

God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, 
dwelling in ineffable glory in the heavens, came 
into this world nineteen hundred years ago, in 
the form of a man, being miraculously born of a 
virgin who herself was immaculate from the time 

1 Mixed Essays — Irish Essays, pp. 85, 87. 



28 The Spiritual Outlook. 

of her conception in her mother's womb ; and 
his name was called Jesus. He lived the life of 
a child ; he grew to manhood ; at about the age 
of thirty he entered upon a public ministry of 
teaching and healing, lasting nearly three years. 
In the course of this he called around him 
twelve disciples ; he chose one of them, Peter, 
to be head of the company, having authority over 
all the rest ; he gave into his hands, to be trans- 
mitted to his successors in office, the keys of the 
kingdom, with power to bind and loose ; he left 
on deposit with them a fund of divine grace, 
to be communicated and dispensed to mankind 
through certain sacraments ; and thus he estab- 
lished his Church on earth, having a visible 
organization, a palpable government, and a spirit- 
ual potency for the salvation of men from sin 
and everlasting perdition. Peter came to Rome, 
where he founded a church, suiFered martyrdom, 
and bequeathed to the Roman bishop his divine 
prerogatives ; and he and all his official succes- 
sors, that is, the Roman pontiffs, have been the 
vicegerents of God on earth, appointed to teach, 
rule, and redeem mankind in place of Christ, who 
returned to heaven after his resurrection. Thus 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 29 

the Christian Church came into existence ; it is 
the only channel through which God's grace can 
flow to the children of men ; and no church is 
truly Christian that cannot trace the stream of 
its organic and spiritual life through this authori- 
tative and apostolic channel to the same Foun- 
tain-Head in Jesus Christ. 

Such, for substance and essence, is the Roman 
Catholic theory of Christianity, as accurately as 
I can express it in a few words. I might occupy 
much space in citations explicating it, but the 
resulting impression would in no vital particular 
be different. Of course there is a vast body of 
theological and ecclesiastical doctrine underlying 
and surrounding this conception, which might 
be discussed at great length ; but I believe the 
meaning of it all to be fairly summed up in the 
concise statement just submitted. 

In promulgating this theory the Romanist 
seeks to substantiate it by appealing, not mainly 
to the teachings of the New Testament, but to 
the traditions and practices of the Fathers, and 
more especially to the Church itself as seen 
in its continuity, its unity, its universality, its 
wisdom and holiness, and the immense benefits 



30 The Spiritual Outlook. 

which it has conferred upon the human race. 
In the language of the Vatican Council he says : 
" The Church itself, by its marvellous propaga- 
tion, its eminent sanctity, its inexhaustible fruit- 
fulness in all good things, its catholic unity and 
invincible stability, is a vast and perpetual 
motive of credibility, and an irrefragable witness 
of its own Divine legation." That is to say, 
the Church itself, by virtue of its history and 
the qualities which it exhibits, is a sufficient 
source of evidence to prove its claim to a divine 
origin and mission. In expanding this idea the 
Catholic dwells fondly and eloquently, as he 
may easily and justly do, upon the splendid 
career which the mighty institution has had. 
" See," he says, " how this wonderful Church 
has existed, in an unbroken line of descent, 
from Jesus Christ to Leo XIII. ; see how it 
has overspread the world; see how it is 
one and the same everywhere and always, 
having one system of government, one visible 
head on earth, the vicar of its invisible Head 
in heaven, having one form of worship, having 
one faith ; see what it has done to control, 
civilize, and refine the nations ; see how it has 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 31 

stood for morality, domestic purity, and social 
order ; see its marvellous philanthropic enter- 
prises, its charitable institutions, its brother- 
hoods and sisterhoods devoted to benevolence ; 
see its contributions to art and learning ; and 
above all see its host of saintly men and women, 
martyrs, confessors, and heroes, who have lived 
holy lives and lent an additional ray of glory to 
the spiritual splendor of this imperial Church. 
Who can doubt that it is divine ? ' In this 
Church, if we be reasonable men, we are forced 
to recognize the true Church of Christ and the 
only lawful claimant to that title.' " 1 Thus 
he argues; and incidentally or additionally he 
maintains that this Church has been divinely 
assisted, being enlightened and guided by the 
Holy Ghost, from the beginning, so as to have 
been preserved pure and blameless, however 
many unworthy or wicked officials and members 
it may have had ; so as to have taught the truth 
with unerring certainty; and so as to be an 
infallible guide in all matters of religion and 
morals. 

I might quote extensively to show that this 

1 Rev. Fr. Stang. 



32 The Spiritual Outlook. 

is the Roman Catholic position, but a single 
reference will suffice. Cardinal Manning's 
article entitled " The Church Its Own Witness/' 
in The North American Review for September, 
1888, is an explicit and able contention for every 
idea which I have here set forth ; and he sum- 
marizes by affirming : - — 

" First — That the imperishable existence of Chris- 
tianity, and the vast and undeniable revolution that 
it has wrought in men and in nations, in the moral 
elevation of manhood and womanhood, and in the 
domestic, social, and political life of the Christian 
world, cannot be accounted for by any natural causes, 
or by any forces that are, as philosophers say, 
intra possibilitatem natures, within the limits of 
what is possible to man. 

" Second — That this world-wide and permanent 
elevation of the Christian world, in comparison with 
both the old world and the modern world outside 
of Christianity, demands a cause higher than the 
possibility of nature. 

H Third — That the Church has always claimed a 
Divine origin and a Divine office and authority in 
virtue of a perpetual Divine assistance. To this 
even the Christian world, in all its fragments ex- 
ternal to the Catholic unity, bears witness. It is 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 33 

turned to our reproach. They rebuke us for hold- 
ing the teaching of the Church to be infallible. We 
take the rebuke as a testimony of our changeless 
faith. . . . The claim of the Catholic Church to a 
Divine authority and to a Divine assistance is one 
and the same in every age, and is identical in 
every place. ... It knows its own history, and is 
the supreme witness of its own legation. ,, 

Now I have said that I believe this theory of 
the nature and work of Christianity to be grossly 
erroneous. I flatly deny that the facts of the 
New Testament warrant it. Were it broached 
now de novo, it would not stand twenty-four 
hours in the face of modern critical scholarship. 
It survives because of its historic associations, 
embodiment, and momentum. To be sure, there 
is truth enough at the heart of it to carry an im- 
mense amount of error and to vitalize any church 
that sincerely embraces it, namely, the truth of the 
redeeming power of the life and teaching of Jesus 
Christ, which is common to all Christians ; but 
the husk of this truth is, for the most part, 
crude assumption and misinterpretation. 

1. It is an assumption to hold that Jesus 
Christ was God Almighty, that he was born of a 

3 



34 The Spiritual Outlook. 

virgin, that he founded an episcopal church by 
appointing Peter chief over all the other apostles, 
rfnd that he left with this church a deposit of 
divine grace to be dispensed to mankind in cer- 
tain prescribed ways. The only shred of these 
elaborate dogmatic conceptions contained in the 
New Testament is the notion of the virgin-birth, 
and nowhere in that whole mass of literature is 
any such importance attached to it as the Catholic 
theory implies, while it is not even once incul- 
cated by the Master himself. 
5 The unbiased reader of the New Testament 
obtains an altogether different idea of Jesus and 
his work. The picture which he sees in the 
Gospels is of a noble Teacher, humble, reverent, 
heavenly-minded, claiming for himself no miracu- 
lous birth, no perfection, no infallibility even ; 
going about doing good, inculcating high and 
holy lessons, instilling the most beautiful and 
blessed principles of life and conduct ever known 
among men, and himself exemplifying them with 
wondrous fidelity and sweetness ; calling about 
him twelve lowly men to be his disciples, com- 
panying with them, talking to them, educating 
them, and exerting his uplifting and sanctifying 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 35 

influence upon them ; then, after convincing them 
that he was the true Messiah, the Christ, and 
leading them to an earnest acknowledgment of 
their faith in him as such, dying a cruel death 
and leaving his sublime cause in their hands, 
absolutely without any other organization than 
was naturally implied in their common spiritual 
experiences and their bond of union with him, 
their dear Lord and Master. By these ties they 
were held together, and they drew others to 
them, — the ties of sacred memory, great religious 
ideas, a profound and blessed quickening of soul, 
a tender sympathy and love, and a wonderful 
hope of a speedy return of their glorified Re- 
deemer, bringing a marvellous change to pass in 
the world. They expected the end of all things 
to come quickly ; they did not expect any such 
mighty Institution to arise as the Christian 
Church at length became. During nearly two 
centuries there was no such church, but just 
this simple, natural, spiritual faith, association, 
and expectation, together with the proclamation 
of the "good news" wherever opportunity offered. 
2. It is by no means certain that Peter ever 
went to Rome. The best scholars are still 



36 The Spiritual Outlook. 

divided regarding this matter. But suppose it 
were proved that he did go there, and that he 
consecrated the bishop of Rome to be his suc- 
cessor : consider the real meaning of the theory 
of apostolic succession, which this concession is 
assumed to warrant. It means that divine 
truth, spiritual grace, saving faith, and holy love 
can be transmitted only through an office ! As 
well might one say that the ideas and spirit of 
the Declaration of Independence can be perpetu- 
ated and communicated only by and through the 
Presidents of the United States! Not so does 
truth do its work in the world. Spiritual pos- 
sessions are transmitted by spiritual means. 
Christ's gospel flows into any and every heart 
that opens to receive it. Man is not the child 
of the devil, but the child of God ; he is not to 
be rescued from eternal peril by a charm or by 
magic or by the hand of a mere functionary ; 
but the Divine Spirit is like the wind that 
" bloweth where it listeth," and the beautiful 
teachings of Jesus Christ, with all the joy and 
strength they bring, may be as effectually incul- 
cated by a simple-minded but devout-hearted 
woman as by a cowled and cassocked priest. It 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 37 

is not the office holders in the Christian Church 
who have built the kingdom of heaven, but the 
men and women who have lived Christ-like lives, 
whether in office or out of office. Such men as 
Dwight L. Moody and Henry Drummond, and 
such women as Frances E. Willard and Maude 
Ballington Booth, though not ordained by any 
church, have been as truly appointed by God to 
their work, and as truly efficient in it, as was 
ever any ecclesiastic; and yet the theory of 
apostolic succession would lend no sanction to 
their holy ministry. Surely this does not savor of 
the spirit of Christ, who said, " Forbid him not ; 
for no man can do a mighty work in my name, 
and lightly speak evil of me." 1 Nor can it be 
wise in the long run; for the world needs the 
services of all its seers and reformers, as of all its 
singers and scholars, to make known the eternal 
spiritual realities ; and the Christianity of Jesus 
Christ is large enough to afford inspiration, scope, 
and benediction for them all. 

3, There are a number of specific assertions 
and implications, involved in the Roman Catho- 
lic theory, which I consider fundamentally false, 

1 Mark ix. 39. 



38 The Spiritual Outlook. 

but which I cannot take space to discuss, — 
such, for instance, as the following: 1 "that the 
act of faith is an imperative act of the will " — 
whence it follows that unbelief is disobedience, 
and heresy is rebellion, and whence is the justi- 
fication of coercion ; " that the diversities and 
contradictions generated by all human systems 
prove the absence of Divine authority ; " that 
" the human intellect, therefore, can give no 
sufficient account of the identity of the Catholic 
faith in all places and in all ages by any of its 
natural processes or powers; " that " the Church 
at this hour is a world-wide witness, an unerring 
judge and teacher, divinely guided and guarded 
in the truth ; " and that the errors of the human 
intellect cannot fasten upon its faith, "nor the 
immoralities of the human will fasten upon its 
sanctity." These are bold and earnest claims, 
sincerely made ; but they are simply the logical 
extremes to which the mind is carried by the 
erroneous hypothesis of the Divine institution 
and guidance of the Roman Catholic Church as 
the only true channel for the stream of Christian 
influence to flow through the world. 

1 See Cardinal Manning's article above referred to. 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 39 

II. Growing out of this false theory is a mis- 
taken conception of the nature of religion and 
the religious life. Roman Catholicism makes 
the chief element of religion to consist in obedi- 
ence, submission to authority, compliance with 
prescribed rules and regulations, and depend- 
ence upon certain rites and ceremonies called 
sacraments. All the mysteries of life, death, 
and the unknown beyond are utilized, and all 
the hopes, fears, and affections of the human 
heart are appealed to, in order to secure this 
result ; and alas ! the whole spiritual fabric is 
supported by two gigantic falsehoods which in 
themselves are enough to condemn any system of 
theology, — the doctrine of total depravity, and 
the doctrine of endless punishment. Far, far 
from all this was the teaching of Jesus. He 
did, indeed, inculcate obedience; but it was 
obedience to the moral law which he enjoined ; 
and he fought with all his might against the 
commandments, ordinances, and institutions of 
men. He made religion to consist in a secret, 
private, personal, spiritual experience of the 
individual soul ; and he never dreamed of es- 
tablishing any such sacramental, sacerdotal, and 



40 The Spiritual Outlook. 

ecclesiastical system as Roman Catholicism repre- 
sents and some of its pale imitations emulate. 
While they borrow from him their chief value 
by purveying some of the blessed truths which 
he taught, they claim from him a sanction for 
their elaborate institutionalism that is not war- 
ranted by any of his utterances, and that implies 
a type of religion which is distinctly contrary to 
his simple, informal, liberal, and vital spirituality. 
III. In consequence of the extremes to which 
this twofold principle of authority on the one 
hand and obedience on the other hand is 
pushed, Romanism leads inevitably, and has led 
in fact, to a denial of the rights of the indi- 
vidual conscience and to a square opposition 
to the spirit of modern liberalism in religion, 
government, and inquiry. By the condemnations 
promulgated, in 1864, by Pope Pius IX., in con- 
nection with the so-called " Syllabus of Errors," 
and by the Decrees of the Vatican Council, in 
1870, confirming these, and also enunciating 
the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, that mighty 
Church has set its face against all progress 
which it does not itself control. I know how it 
poses as the friend of freedom and progress ; but 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 41 

read Pope Leo's " Letter on Americanism/' issued 
in January, 1899, and you will plainly see how 
both freedom and progress must be submitted, in 
the last analysis, to the Church's regulation and 
approval. The same thing is true respecting 
modern learning — one would almost think, to 
read the utterances of Archbishop Satolli, 1 for 
instance, that it is the only great friend learning 
has ever had; but take the single matter of 
Biblical Criticism for a test. According to the 
Vatican Decrees, the Pope is infallible in his 
official decisions in matters of faith and morals. 
Well, the Pope in such a decision has said : 

" By supernatural power, God so moved and 
impelled them to w T rite " — meaning the Biblical 
authors — " He was so present to them — that 
the things which He ordered, and those only, 
they, first, rightly understood, then willed faith- 
fully to write down, and finally expressed in apt 
words and with infallible truth." Plainly this 
maintains the infallibility and Divine origin of 
Scripture. Suppose, now, that errors are proved 
to exist in the Bible, as has been the case already 
in many instances : immediately here is a con- 

1 See the volume of his addresses, " Church and State." 



42 The Spiritual Outlook. 

flict, and the Roman Church shuts the door 
against all new truth. The late Professor St. 
George Mivart, a modern scientific scholar, and 
during his long life a devoted apologist for Ro- 
man Catholicism, found this out to his great 
sorrow just before his recent death. 1 

With reference to this whole false attitude I 
must say that I am confident it will sooner or 
later prove a hindrance, not only to the progress 
of learning, but to the usefulness of the Roman 
Church itself. I agree again with Matthew 
Arnold that, " as experience widens, as the sci- 
entific and dogmatic pretensions of the Church 
become more manifestly illusory, its tone of certi- 
tude respecting them, so unguarded, so reiterated, 
and so grossly calculated for immediate and vul- 
gar effect, will be an embarrassment to it." 2 
And I would say, with Mr. Lowell, — 

" Nothing that keeps thought out is safe from thought. 
For there 's no virgin-fort but self-respect, 
And Truth defensive hath lost hold on God." 3 

But now, in conclusion, notwithstanding these 

1 See North American "Review, April, 1900. 

2 Mixed Essays, p. 89. 8 The Cathedral. 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 43 

criticisms, I repeat my appreciation of the better 
side of Roman Catholicism, and affirm my confi- 
dence that it will have a wonderful sway, and 
perhaps a considerable growth, in the immediate 
future. The reasons for such an opinion may 
be briefly stated. 

1. The Roman Church nourishes an ardent 
piety. While its type of piety appears distorted, 
as compared with the standard exemplified by 
Jesus, and is more consonant with the ideals 
and spirit of medievalism than with those of the 
present age, yet it is a genuine thing. It is 
sincere, earnest, consistent, and potent. The 
human heart is made for religious devotion as 
surely as for human sympathy and love ; and the 
church that provides adequately for the nurture, 
expression, and use of this beautiful quality will 
hold the people because it feeds, helps, sanctifies, 
and redeems them. The spiritual ministry of 
Roman Catholicism in these respects is ample, 
powerful, loving, and unremitting. It cannot 
fail to bless vast multitudes of soul-hungry men 
and women in the future as it has done in the 
past. 

2. Its humanitarian services are varied, exten- 



44 The Spiritual Outlook. 

sive, and wise. The energy which it turns into 
channels of practical beneficence is tremendous, 
and the uplift which it thus gives to the civiliza- 
tion of our age is of measureless worth. Long 
after its theology becomes effete, and its escha- 
tology loses its terrors, and its ecclesiastical au- 
tocracy yields to the demands of the democratic 
spirit, its Christ-like labors of love for the desti- 
tute, the suffering, the ignorant, the wicked, per- 
formed with unfailing fidelity and adorned with 
" the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit," will 
render its mission on earth a blessed one and 
will attest its divine character by the truest of 
signs. 

3. There is, just now, a marked and wide- 
spread tendency in the Christian world toward 
ritualism and unity, even as there is in the 
political world a movement toward socialism, 
along with the growth of the principle of com- 
bination in the economic world, — all together 
constituting, for the time being, a kind of ground- 
swell in the direction of centralization. It is in 
part the inevitable reaction from an excessive 
individualism, and in part the new development, 
brought to pass in our time, of the social rela- 



Roman Catholicism in Civilization. 45 

tionships of every human life and the social 
bearings of all vital interests. The Church of 
Rome, being the most conspicuous example of 
the success of organization, centralized power, 
and liturgical worship, is likely to profit by these 
conditions more largely than any other religious 
body — until the tendency referred to shall have 
spent its force or shall have been countervailed, 
as must ultimately be the case, by a wise safe- 
guarding of that true individualism for the en- 
hancement of which all social organization really 
exists. 

4. The present is an age of unrest, perplexity, 
and anxiety in respect to religious doctrines. 
Multitudes of people are disturbed and know 
not what to believe. Yet life goes on bringing 
its trials and troubles ; sin and sorrow are busy ; 
hearts are crushed ; and human souls cry out 
for help, for light, for consolation. To all such 
the Church of Rome stands, apparently unshaken, 
appealing to them to come home and rest. Her 
appeal is essentially false, because she bids them 
stop thinking and repose their trust in an ex- 
ternal authority ; but it will be none the less — 
rather it will be all the more — effective with 



46 The Spiritual Outlook. 

those who are weary of thought, doubt, and 
uncertainty ; while to those who have been 
baffled by sin or overwhelmed by grief, the 
refuge offered by her all-embracing arms will 
seem like a mother's solace or a haven of 
peace. 

In view of the foregoing facts it is reasonable 
to expect that the Roman Catholic Church, with 
her great past, her splendid administration, her 
large corps of capable leaders, her army of 
trained servants, her millions of devoted com- 
municants, her educational resources, and, above 
all, her spiritual message to a race of beings 
who must ever face the mystery of existence, 
will have in this new world a grand career of 
growth and influence. Nor can it be doubted 
that her ministry will be a slowly broadening 
one, in thought as well as in service ; or that 
she will prove herself to be, on the whole, a 
constructive factor in the civilization of the 
immediate future. 



THE CONTRIBUTION OF PROTES- 
TANTISM TO SPIRITUAL AND 
SOCIAL PROGRESS. 




THE CONTRIBUTION OF PROTES- 
TANTISM TO SPIRITUAL AND 
SOCIAL PROGRESS. 

|HE second great factor in producing 
the civilization of our age, embody- 
ing the influence of religion, and 
helping to shape the developments of the 
immediate future, is Protestantism. While, tak- 
ing the world as a whole, its numerical follow- 
ing is not quite so large as that of Roman 
Catholicism, being in the ratio of about five to 
seven, it is to be noted that its adherents are 
mainly among the most progressive people of 
the earth, — the inhabitants of Germany, Great 
Britain, and the United States. Of course there 
are Protestants elsewhere, notably in Scandinavia, 
Holland, and Belgium, where I suppose nearly 
the whole population may be so classed ; and 
also in France, Italy, and Austria, to a gratifying 
extent ; and in the various missionary lands to 

even a more encouraging degree : but still it is 

4 



50 The Spiritual Outlook. 

true that the chief strength of Protestantism 
lies, as it has done from the first, in countries 
of the Teutonic race and its kindred. If the 
power of this race is yet increasing and to in- 
crease, as appears altogether probable, the out- 
look for Protestantism, on this particular score 
at least, is quite auspicious. 

Because of this very significant fact, that the 
most powerful and enterprising nations, except- 
ing Russia, are predominantly Protestant, and 
are now more likely than ever to extend their 
sway throughout the world, it is highly impor- 
tant that we should understand the true nature, 
meaning, and bearing of Protestantism. What 
is its essential character, what has been its dis- 
tinctive service, and what are its present weak- 
nesses and dangers ? The only warrant for at- 
tempting to answer this complex question at all 
is a sincere desire to answer it as justly as 
possible. 

Our study of Roman Catholicism has shown 
us that it makes an immense use of the two- 
fold principle of authority and obedience ; that 
it reduces the religious life largely to docility, 
compliance, and dependence upon the sacra- 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 51 

ments and the priesthood ; and that the Roman 
Church as an organization, with its peculiar 
methods and marvellous power, subsists mainly 
by virtue of this generic conception. Now, we 
cannot deny that there is much room and need 
in our human world for the operation of such 
a principle. It is often said that races are like 
individuals, in that they have their childhood, 
their maturity, and perhaps their old age. Well, 
all children and childlike peoples need for a time 
to be controlled, taught, disciplined, and guided ; 
and hosts of strong men who have so abused 
their freedom as to make shipwreck of life need 
^o be dealt with as children. But individuals 
and races do not remain in their childhood for- 
ever, and not every lusty free man loses self- 
control and goes to ruin. Hence there are 
limits to the place of authority and submission 
in all institutions that undertake to govern and 
educate mankind. A glance at history will 
reveal a stupendous illustration of this truth. 
The ancient Romans had a genius for govern- 
ment. They were a conquering, practical, 
orderly people. They built up the greatest and 
best Empire of antiquity, comprising all the 



52 The Spiritual Outlook. 

then civilized nations ; and in its dealings with 
alien or inferior races, subjugating and incorpo- 
rating them, it was more liberal and just than 
any previous Power. Upon the decline and 
fall of this Empire, to which many causes con- 
tributed, the Roman Catholic Church succeeded 
to its mission. A young institution, ardent, 
earnest, fearless, inspired with a holier ideal 
than was ever known before, it was the only 
agency to cope with the gigantic task of saving 
out of the ruins of the pagan civilization what 
was worth saving, of taming and Christianizing 
the overflowing barbarian hordes, and of helping 
to establish the new governments of the rising 
nations of northern and western Europe. Nobly 
did it meet the emergency ; for nearly a thou- 
sand years did it control the situation, and for 
most of that time wisely and well; and the 
vastness of the service which it thus rendered 
to the mediaeval and the modern world every 
intelligent, fair-minded man gladly admits to-day. 
But those young European nations, those 
Goths and Vandals, those Franks and Germans, 
those Angles and Saxons, were not always to 
remain in their childhood. They grew rapidly 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 53 

in numbers, power, and intelligence ; and the 
world changed wonderfully from the Fall of 
Rome to the Discovery of America, — the Em- 
pire of Charlemagne came and went, Feudalism 
had its day and was ceasing to be, the Crusades 
were over, having broken up the stagnation of 
society and afforded a wider outlook, the light 
of the New Learning was spreading, and the 
tide of nationalism was rising full and strong. 
Withal, alas ! the Church itself had grown proud, 
worldly, and corrupt. Hence it came about 
that the strong hand of this mighty Institution, 
which was at first laid upon those rude peoples 
to restrain, guide, and help them, was felt at 
length, when they had grown to maturity, to be 
a hand of iron to hurt, hamper, and crush all 
that was best within them. Thus, as Dr. Schaff 
has said, " from being a Tutor the Church be- 
came a Tyrant;" and under all the conditions 
nothing but the ground-swell of a tremendous 
revolt could redeem the evil time. 

The particular form in which the revolt actu- 
ally expressed itself is a secondary matter. We 
shall mistake profoundly if we do not thoroughly 
understand that the Reformation of the fifteenth 



54 The Spiritual Outlook. 

and sixteenth centuries was fundamentally and 
essentially a declaration of independence on the 
part of people who had come of age and were 
determined to put away childish things. It was 
prompted immediately by certain gross abuses 
which had grown up in the Church, such as the 
moral prostitution involved in the sale of in- 
dulgences, the profligacy of many of the clergy 
and monks, and the undue interference of the 
ecclesiastical authorities in secular affairs. But 
all this was only fuel for the fire that had been 
long smouldering and was now bursting into 
flame. Underneath the whole agitation and 
protest was the increasing spirit of liberty, which 
was native to all the various branches of the 
Teutonic race, and which was bound soon or 
late to break with the absolute autocracy of 
Roman Catholicism. Martin Luther was the 
chief Voice crying in the wilderness of his time 
in the tones of this spirit ; but he did not stand 
or work alone : behind him were the deep, in- 
stinctive tendencies of his countrymen, however 
undeveloped in some quarters ; and before him 
floated the new, divine ideal of the new age 
that was dawning in the history of the world. 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 55 

Now, from this cursory review — all too brief, 
no doubt, but accurate, I believe, as far as it goes 

— the reader will see that the genesis of Protes- 
tantism was really an assertion of individualism, 

— the rights of the individual, the capacity of 
the individual, the ability of the individual. For 
this is precisely what it amounted to, and it was 
not long in coming to this, its legitimate purport. 
Let me proceed to show how such was necessa- 
rily the case, and how the great principle has 
wrought in the spiritual and social progress of 
the last four centuries. 

I. When the Reformers protested against the 
excesses and abuses of the Roman Ecclesiasti- 
cism, and contended not only for the right of 
each nation to manage its own civil affairs, but 
also for the right of every person to think for 
himself, to read the Bible for himself, to follow 
the dictates of his own conscience, and to minis- 
ter to his own household if he saw fit, there was 
implied in all this the whole fruitful idea of the 
inherent excellence of human nature. It meant 
that every man, high or low, has certain rights 
which all potentates are bound to respect, and 
that the first of these rights is freedom, — free- 



56 The Spiritual Outlook. 

dom of person, freedom of thought, freedom of 
action. It meant also that every man is capable 
of taking care of himself, — of learning the truth, 
of shaping his own conduct and character, of 
finding his own pathway to usefulness and hon- 
or, to God and heaven. It meant, therefore, 
that every man is able to master himself and his 
little part of the world, to improve himself and 
his circumstances, and to achieve his proper des- 
tiny as a responsible being, without the control 
or assistance of any extraneous authority. What 
is all this but the assertion of the worth and the 
claims of the individual, as opposed to an over- 
awing, repressive, and perhaps oppressive institu- 
tionalism ? and what is such an assertion but the 
radical truth of Christianity regarding the nature 
of man as a child of God come to its legitimate 
result in the development of personal character ? 
But one cannot fail to perceive that this whole 
proceeding was tantamount to a denial of the 
divine constitution of the Roman Catholic hie- 
rarchy. The claim to have been thus constituted 
had been put forth, extended, imposed, and ac- 
quiesced in for a thousand years ; and in the fact 
that it was unquestioned by the people at large 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 57 

lay the immediate source of the absolute power 
of the entire papal system. That monumental 
pretension was shattered for all of like attitude 
when, at the Diet of Worms, Luther stood up 
before his enemies and, as Mr. Froude says, " in 
a clear, ringing voice, which still vibrates across 
the centuries, answered : ' Councils have erred. 
Popes have erred. Prove to me out of the Scrip- 
tures that I am wrong, and I submit. Till you 
have proved it my conscience binds me. I can 
do no other. God help me. Amen/ " 1 Luther 
himself was not at first aware of the full import 
of his heroic action, nor did any of his sym- 
pathizers dream of all the ultimate consequences 
which it involved; but subsequent history has 
unfolded its larger meanings, and we can now 
see that, in his defiance of Rome and his bold 
though unwitting assertion of individualism, he 
struck a most effective blow for the emancipation 
of the human soul, and broke the spell of that 
false dogmatic and ecclesiastical absolutism which 
had dominated Europe for ten centuries. 

II. A little reflection will show that it is logi- 
cally but a short step from the achievement of 

1 Council of Trent, pp. 51, 52. 



58 The Spiritual Outlook. 

such religious liberty to the attainment of cor- 
responding civil liberty. A repudiation of the 
Divine authority of Popes leads straight and 
quick to a denial of " the divine right of kings." 
European society had suffered from both of these 
ideas, and needed to be delivered from the thral- 
dom of both. The deliverance began to be real- 
ized in the Protestant assertion of individualism, 
— the rights of the individual, the capacity of 
the individual, the ability of the individual. For 
when you contend that the human mind can 
think for itself, find out the truth for itself, fol- 
low safely the guidance of its own reason and 
the dictates of its conscience, understand the 
Bible for itself, approach God and commune 
with Him without priest or ritual, how far will 
it be to the notion that each man might and 
should have something to say about the govern- 
mental arrangements of society ? Thus Christian 
individualism leads directly to political democ- 
racy; and although, as a matter of fact, it has 
taken centuries to get this great truth wrought 
into the fabric of modern civil government, and 
those centuries have been filled with strife, and 
the task is not yet finished, still the logical con- 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 59 

nection is as close as I have indicated. A reli- 
gious doctrine that exalts man and teaches him 
to be independent, intellectually and spiritually, 
inevitably makes him worthy to be a free citizen ; 
and being worthy, he soon demands his rights. 
On the contrary, a religious doctrine that depre- 
ciates man, calling him naturally depraved and 
reprobate, and teaching him to be submissive 
and dependent, conduces to autocracy in both 
Church and State. It was one hundred and 
fifteen years from the Diet of Worms, in 1521, to 
the days of Roger Williams, in 1636 ; and it was 
two hundred and fifty-five years to the Declara- 
tion of American Independence, in 17/6 ; but 
both the work of Roger Williams and the estab- 
lishment of this great Republic rest back upon 
the instincts, ideas, and principles which were 
vital to the Germanic people, and which were so 
valiantly expressed by Martin Luther before the 
assembled dignitaries of all Europe. Accord- 
ingly Guizot is right in saying that the Reforma- 
tion "banished, or nearly so, religion from politics, 
and restored the independence of the temporal 
power. At the same moment that religion re- 
turned into the possession of believers, it quitted 



60 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the government of society ; " and he proceeds to 
show how a parallel has run through the pro- 
gressive developments and revolutions of civil 
society and those of religious society — " only/' 
as he says, " religious society has always been 
foremost in this career." 1 

III. From this twofold emancipation, which 
must be ever regarded as the main contribution 
of Protestantism to human progress, there have 
sprung a few minor blessings which yet are of 
such great value that I must mention them, even 
though I cannot dwell upon them. 

1. I put first among these religious toleration, 
which President Eliot has called " the best fruit 
of the last four centuries." To be sure, this has 
been slow enough in coming, even under the 
influeuce of Protestantism ; but when would it 
ever have come without it ? If we to-day, in 
our freer and kindlier atmosphere, deplore the 
controversy, dogmatism, and persecution which 
have afflicted the Protestant churches, let us 
remember that they had their source in the 
temper which Roman Catholicism engendered, 
prior to the Reformation, and that the spirit of 

1 History of Civilization, pp. 232, 233. 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 61 

Protestantism has teuded steadily to overcome 
all this mischief. It has not wrought alone, for 
modern science, general education, the press, and 
business have helped powerfully; but back of 
these and through them has been felt the 
force of the fundamental Protestant principle 
of Christian individualism, which constrains every 
man to recognize the rights of every other man, 
and makes for the widest liberty and toleration 
in " religious concernments." 

" Is true freedom but to break 
Fetters for our own dear sake, 
And, with leathern hearts, forget 
That we owe mankind a debt ? 
No ! true freedom is to share 
All the chains our brothers wear, 
And, with heart and hand, to be 
Earnest to make others free." 1 

2. I mention next the spiritualization of 
religion. Previous to the Reformation religion 
was a very formal, ceremonial, perfunctory 
thing; and the wonder almost is that the gos- 
pel of Jesus Christ survived at all in a church 
that possessed so little of his spirit as the Roman 

1 Lowell. 



62 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Church did in its worst estate. But when Prot- 
estantism withdrew the human soul from undue 
dependence upon the Hierarchy, and sent it to 
the Bible, and brought it face to face with the 
Master, it not only opened all the riches of the 
Scriptures and all the beauties of the one Match- 
less Life, to refresh and fructify the spirit of the 
believer, but it also stimulated that spiritual self- 
exertion without which no religious life can be 
deep, self-reliant, and strong. Thence resulted 
what has been called — sometimes too narrowly 
— the Evangelical type of Christianity, implying 
a vital, personal, spiritual faith and piety derived 
from the direct access of the individual soul to 
the great fountains of religious power, — the 
Bible, the Saviour, and the Spirit of God per- 
vading the universe. This in turn has quickened 
Christian scholarship, Christian philanthropy, and 
Christian missionary effort; and the benefits 
which have thus accrued to the religion of the 
modern world are of incalculable value. 

3. Growing naturally out of these salutary 
influences, and reinforcing them at every point, 
has come a positive help from the side of re- 
ligion to the production of strong characters. 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 63 

True, the Teutonic stock tends to yield such 
fruits anyhow ; but it is plain that a religious 
doctrine that throws a man spiritually upon his 
own resources, showing him that his character, 
his salvation, his destiny depend, not upon priests 
and sacraments, but upon his own direct seeking 
of the divine life through personal repentance, 
prayer, and all holy endeavor, must aid im- 
mensely in building up strong men and women. 
We know what happens to a boy in school 
when he is taught to think for himself, and is 
started upon paths of independent research : all 
the best that is in him will come out. It is even 
so in moral and spiritual things : character is 
strengthened by the great principle of Christian 
individualism ; and strong characters make a 
strong nation. Who shall say how much Prot- 
estantism has thus contributed to make the 
vast difference between America and Spain which 
we have recently seen so tragically exhibited ? 

4. Lastly, as another phase of the result just 
noted, I would speak of the power of individual 
initiative. This, too, may be a natural product 
of the Anglo-Saxon race ; but whatever influ- 
ences tend to stimulate self-reliance and self- 



64 The Spiritual Outlook- 

exertion, together with the alertness and the 
foresight which accompany these qualities, must 
tend likewise to develop a people who can think 
out new ways, invent things, start things, do 
things. How large a part this faculty or ability 
has played in American industry, we all have 
some idea; but perhaps it has not occurred to 
many of us that it has been fostered for four 
hundred years by that quickening spirit of Chris- 
tian individualism which is the very soul of Prot- 
estantism. I am sure that our modern social 
development owes an enormous debt to this 
inventive trait, this power of initiative ; and I 
am equally sure that it, in turn, owes much to 
that conception of religion which dignifies and 
strengthens the soul of every human being by 
teaching it the great lesson of spiritual inde- 
pendence. 1 

1 Edward Everett Hale expressed a similar thought in his 
address at the World's Parliament of Religions, in 1893, when 
he said : "I do not believe that Americaus of to-day suffi- 
ciently appreciate the strength which was given to this coun- 
try when every man in it went about his own business and 
was told that he must * paddle his own canoe,' that he must 
' play the game alone,' that he must get the best, and that he 
must not trust to anybody about him to work out these miracles 
and mysteries." 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 65 

Now, after seeing what benefits Protestantism 
has conferred upon the world, in these vital and 
fundamental ways, it is needful to glance at its 
shortcomings. It certainly has its shortcomings, 
its weaknesses, its unsolved problems, its grave 
dangers. I can barely allude to them, but I must 
at least indicate what they are. 

The imperfections of Protestantism are quite 
apparent to one who takes a large and impartial 
view of Christianity. Its many divisions and 
subdivisions, resulting in waste, weakness, and 
inefficiency; its lack of uniformity in thought, 
worship, and government, resulting in confusion ; 
its excess of the spirit of individualism, together 
with its dogmatic temper, resulting in contro- 
versy ; its aesthetic poverty, resulting in the 
starvation of the imagination, and restricting its 
ministry to the more prosaic classes ; and its 
want of the sense of historic continuity, depriv- 
ing it of dignity and power, — all these limita- 
tions are patent to the candid student of religious 
phenomena and human progress, and are often 
keenly felt by the lovers of true spiritual culture. 

In a general way, these defects arise out of 
the extremes to which the virtues of Protest- 

5 



66 The Spiritual Outlook. 

antism have been. pushed. Phillips Brooks once 
said that the difficulty with a great many good 
things was the difficulty of stopping them. We 
have seen that this has been the case in Roman 
Catholicism, — that its chief evils have sprung 
from the undue length to which it has carried 
the great principle of authority in religion. Like- 
wise the chief evils of Protestantism have sprung 
from the undue length to which it has carried 
the very principles that give it its true strength. 

(1) The Reformers found their source of au- 
thority for religious faith and doctrine to lie, 
not in the Church, but in the Bible ; and it was 
a blessed day for our race when that fountain of 
life-giving waters was opened. Inestimable have 
been the ethical and spiritual benefits which it 
has yielded; and we can scarcely be grateful 
enough to Luther and his compeers for render- 
ing the Scriptures into their native tongues, and 
for teaching the people to go to them for the 
light of divine truth. But see what happened. 
The theologians magnified the Bible beyond rea- 
son, and in the next century there grew up that 
hard, narrow conception of verbal inspiration 
and absolute infallibility which has been as false 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 67 

and baneful, in its way, as the opposite notion of 
Papal infallibility. By this means cruel errors 
have been kept alive that otherwise would have 
died long ago, many souls have been repelled 
from Christianity altogether, and the spiritual 
progress of mankind has been seriously retarded. 
Now at length, happily, modern scholarship is 
breaking down that mechanical, erroneous con- 
ception of Scripture, and helping us to see that 
the God who spake of old time through the 
prophets and apostles speaks in our hearts, and 
has spoken in various other ways to His needy 
children ; and we can say, with Lowell, — 

" Slowly the Bible of the race is writ, 
And not on paper leaves nor leaves of stone ; 
Each age, each kindred, adds a verse to it, 
Texts of despair or hope, of joy or moan. 
While swings the sea, while mists the mountain shroud, 
While thunder's surges burst on cliffs of cloud, 
Still at the prophets' feet the nations sit." 

(2) Again, what I have called the principle 
of Christian individualism has been the main 
element of strength in Protestantism. Yet be- 
hold what mischief it has wrought when carried 
to excess ! It has broken the Christian Church 



68 The Spiritual Outlook. 

up into a multitude of sects, that too frequently 
have fought one another instead of the common 
enemy, moral evil ; and the immense number of 
small churches which we see around us to-day, 
involving a prodigious waste of money and 
human energy, and rendering the administration 
of Christian interests ineffective, is traceable 
largely to this abuse of individualism. In other 
words, the same thing has taken place in the 
religious world which has taken place in the 
business world, — competition has been carried 
too far. Hence weakness has ensued to such 
an extent that the principle is beginning to 
defeat itself by destroying the very churches, 
through their inability to survive, which it has 
striven so hard to multiply. 

But there will be a reaction from this exces- 
sive individualism and denominationalism, and 
indeed it is already setting in, as a later chapter 
of this book will show. Meanwhile let us not 
forget that the great principle itself is true, and 
that the evils connected with it come only from 
the unwarrantable extremes to which it is 
pressed. So does God punish the sin of over- 
doing. 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 69 

(3) Once more, it can hardly be denied that 
the reaction against the overwrought symbolism 
and ceremonialism of Roman Catholicism has 
carried the Protestant churches too far in the 
opposite direction. The result has been a 
degree of aesthetic barrenness almost grotesque. 
Beauty has been banished from the temples 
and the ceremonies of worship so far as well- 
nigh to rob them of half the joy that they 
ought to give in the holy name of religion. 
If beauty is one of the means by which the 
human spirit may be brought into communion 
with the Divine Spirit, this aesthetic poverty 
has involved a distinct spiritual loss to the race ; 
and while the reaction was undoubtedly a whole- 
some one in the beginning, and has been re- 
deemed generally by the deep sincerity which 
has accompanied it, yet the swing of the pendu- 
lum now in the other direction is prophetic of 
a broader, better-balanced type of Christian 
worship and Christian piety than has prevailed 
during the last three or four centuries. Man 
is a many-sided being, and the manifestations 
of God are various ; and Christianity is large 
enough to minister to the human spirit on all 



70 The Spiritual Outlook. 

sides by opening the many different pathways 
through which the child of the Eternal may 
approach its Heavenly Father. It is for Protes- 
tantism to learn how to combine truth, virtue, 
reverence, beauty, and love, so fully and so justly 
as to serve all souls ; and how to express these 
in its forms of worship so amply and so fairly 
as to satisfy the purest tastes and aspirations 
of all. 

If now, in conclusion, we may glance at the 
dangers which confront Protestantism, at least 
two may be pointed out that seem both real 
and grave. 

1. The first one is that we shall be so neglect- 
ful of our own personal religious life, and of the 
means of keeping it pure and strong, that all 
real Protestantism will die out of our souls, and 
thus die out of the world. Religion from the 
Protestant standpoint is primarily and essentially 
a personal, private, spiritual affair, — an affair 
between the individual human soul and its God. 
But if the individual neglects his spiritual in- 
terests, religion may lose its influence in his 
life, and degeneration may proceed to the point 
of utter helplessness ; for we cannot ignore the 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 71 

fact that there is such a terrible thing in this 
world as degeneration. What shall keep alive 
that high, resolute, and sincere desire of each 
man for spiritual harmony with God which alone 
can give reality and vitality to any outward 
forms of religion ? Protestantism necessarily 
takes immense risks in trusting to the spirit of 
libertv aud individualism. I believe it is safe 
to take such risks, for I believe they are pre- 
cisely the risks which God takes ; but we must 
recognize the fact that they are risks, and for 
this very reason involve the possibilities of 
frightful injury. Therefore we must seek to 
guard against ill results by providiug, as far as 
possible, for a right use of the freedom which 
is God's best gift to the human soul. And if 
Protestantism shall not be duly mindful of this 
requirement, and press home upon every soul 
this solemn obligation to use its freedom aright 
and to " quench not the Spirit," the very genius 
of Protestantism will vanish from the religious 
world until another violent reaction brings it 
back to rectify another long chapter of error and 
abuse. There is no hope for Protestantism as 
a movement, with its institutions and its enter- 



72 The Spiritual Outlook. 

prises, except in the maintenance of the essen- 
tially Protestant spirit — the spirit of vital 
religiousness — in each heart ; and one of its 
worst enemies, coming in the guise of a friend, 
is what I may call a kind of spiritual laissez 
faire. 

2. The second danger is almost exactly con- 
trary, namely, that we shall be swept off our feet 
by the wave of reaction toward socialism, centrali- 
zation, and combination which is beginning to 
flood the civilization of our day, — making itself 
felt in the Christian Church in the easy love of 
ritualism and the ready yielding to the power of 
organization. And, curiously enough, this danger 
is aggravated by the other ; for when the Prot- 
estant spirit has so died down in any man's 
heart that he does not care much about his own 
religious interests, — his faith, his piety, his wor- 
ship, — he is a fit subject, when some crisis 
comes to show him his need of divine things, to 
be captivated by the positive teaching, influence, 
and institutionalism of the Roman Catholic 
Church, that never fails to press its claims or 
to pick up those who drift on the sea of life and 
are ready to accept her proffer of salvation, If, 



The Contribution of Protestantism. 73 

therefore, through neglect, we come to have a 
weakened Protestantism, we may look for a 
strengthened Romanism ; and when our think- 
ing on industrial and political subjects is em- 
phasizing the interests of socialism, in one form 
or another, making us see the value of organiza- 
tion and centralized authority, it is becoming 
easier for religious people to acquiesce in the 
pretensions of Roman Catholicism on the ground 
of its great utility. The only thing that can 
counteract this tendency or danger is a more 
intelligent, thoroughgoing appreciation of the 
nature and value of true Protestantism. No 
one can furnish this but the Protestant himself ; 
and he must so understand his task as to see 
the inherent importance of his fundamental 
principles, and must so wisely exemplify them 
as to prove that they can be safely trusted to 
promote the highest spiritual welfare of the 
world. 

Protestantism, in the last analysis, is but the 
religious phase of the same great movement of 
which democracy is the political phase. The 
whole development springs out of the aspira- 



74 The Spiritual Outlook. 

tions of mankind, and rests upon a profound 
faith in the capabilities of human nature. In 
order that this faith may be justified, it remains 
for the Protestant churches, as it remains for the 
democratic states, to continue to show that 
liberty does not preclude co-operation, but rather 
prepares the way for the best kind of co-opera- 
tion ; and that this best kind, namely, voluntary 
co-operation, can be more efficient for spiritual 
and social progress than any form of autocratic 
dominion. I believe that the peoples of the 
Teutonic stock will afford this demonstration, 
not only among themselves, but also among 
those alien races — so different and in some 
respects so inferior — to whom the events of 
the world are now bearing the message of our 
Western, Protestant, democratic civilization. 



THE SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE OF 
MODERN EDUCATION. 



THE SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE OF 
MODERN EDUCATION. 

IN estimating the constructive forces of 
our present civilization, with special 
reference to the interests of religion, 
a large place — perhaps I should say the largest 
place — must be assigned to education. For no 
other factor under human control appears to me 
to be playing, and destined to play, so great a 
part in moulding thought, character, and social 
development. Its influence upon the individual 
is direct, vital, and permanent ; and it modifies 
society by affecting the inner experience and the 
outer bearing of each of its constituent members 
whom it touches. Its reciprocal relation to 
religion, including ethics, is most intimate ; and 
the twentieth century is quite certain to witness 
vaster results from their conjunctive operation 
than the world has dreamed of hitherto. 

In amplifying and justifying this general state- 
ment, I ask the reader to consider first the new- 



78 The Spiritual Outlook. 

ness of our modern education, as regards alike 
its extent and its content ; and, second, its influ- 
ence upon religion, both as affecting the subject- 
matter of religious teaching, and as modifying 
the social function of the Christian Church. 

I. Of course, in speaking of the newness of 
modern education, I do not mean to imply that 
education itself is a recent innovation. On the 
contrary, it is a very old affair. If one were 
writing its history, he would need to go back to 
ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Greece to tell of the 
beginnings of the acquisition and diffusion of 
knowledge. In Greece especially he would find 
material for an interesting story, and he might 
quote from such great thinkers as Socrates, Plato, 
and Aristotle many a maxim and wise counsel 
for the guidance of educational thought to-day. 
The last-named writer, for instance, in alluding 
to the public interest in education, says: "No 
one, therefore, can doubt that the legislator ought 
principally to attend to the education of youth. 
For in cities where this is neglected, politics are 
injured. . . . But it is necessary that the studies 
of the public should be common. At the same 
time, also, no one ought to think that any citizen 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 79 

belongs to him in particular, but that all the 
citizens belong to the city. The care and atten- 
tion, however, which are paid to each of the 
parts naturally look to the care and attention of 
the whole." 1 

Here is essentially the conception which under- 
lies the public school system of the United States 
at present, and it is almost identical with that 
which was recently expressed by Professor W. 
Rein, of Jena, regarding the function of the State 
in the education of the children of Germany. 2 
Then our historian, coming down into the early 
Middle Age, might relate the efforts of such 
pioneer teachers as Cassiodorus and Baeda, Al- 
cuin and Charlemagne, who, in their labors to 
spread the rudiments of learning among the chil- 
dren of the rising nations of Europe, laid the 
foundations of the universities of Italy, France, 
Germany, and England. And, again, later on, 
he might draw from the writings of Erasmus, 
Sir Thomas More, and others, clear and sound 
views as to what constitutes a true education ; 
and so on he might go, tracing the love, the 

1 The Politics, Book 8. 

2 See "Education in the Nineteenth Century," p. 265. 



80 The Spiritual Outlook. 

growth, and the spread of learning, and the 
development of the means of promoting it even 
down to our own day. 

But it is not the history of education that con- 
cerns us just now, but rather the vital signifi- 
cance of our present education ; and in calling 
attention to its strictly modern character, I refer 
to its vast extent and its rich content. 

1. The word that best describes the extent 
which I have in mind is the word popular. This 
indicates both the favorable regard in which 
education is held and its increasing prevalence 
among the masses. If any of the old worthies 
whom I have named were to look in upon our 
modern world and see the facilities for instruc- 
tion now everywhere afforded, they would be 
astonished and gratified beyond measure. For 
of all the respects in which the present age 
differs from any former era none is really more 
striking than that which relates to popular cul- 
ture. The increase in the world's stock of 
knowledge within the last two centuries is itself 
quite sufficient to be marvellous ; but a corre- 
sponding increase has taken place in the means 
for its diffusion. Since the invention of printing, 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 81 

all barriers seem to have been removed, so that 
whatever truth mankind possesses can have free 
course to run and be glorified; and countless 
institutions have been established for the pur- 
pose of training vast multitudes of the young to 
understand as much thereof as possible. If one 
should try to compute the value of the school 
property in existence, and the annual cost of 
operating it, he would find the sum-total enor- 
mous, and would discover that society is spend- 
ing its money freely, even lavishly, upon the 
interests of education. In our own country, 
since the days of Horace Mann, the common 
school has overspread the land, academies and 
colleges have sprung up on every hand, and uni- 
versities have risen like magic with endowments 
reaching into millions of dollars. Surely it is a 
remarkable and significant spectacle which we 
are witnessing in these outward phenomena of 
the intellectual life of modern times. Comparing 
it all with the state of affairs attendant upon the 
birth of the present European powers, we may 
say that the new republic growing up here in 
America is beginning its career under at least 

some auspicious circumstances. 

6 



82 The Spiritual Outlook. 

The recentness of this extension of education 
may be indicated by a single fact. The City of 
Providence, Rhode Island, has lately celebrated 
(October 22-27, 1900) the one hundredth anni- 
versary of its establishment of free public schools. 
When we consider how meagre were the advan- 
tages for general instruction, elsewhere as well 
as here, previous to the nineteenth century ; how 
the thirteen original colonies, strung along the 
Atlantic seaboard, have become forty-five United 
States stretching westward to the Pacific ; how 
each of these commonwealths has entered ear- 
nestly into the work of popular education ; how 
the millions of Negroes in the South, who were 
slaves a generation ago, are participating to a 
considerable extent in the benefits of this great 
movement ; how even the Indians, who are now 
the wards of the nation rather than its enemies, 
are being slowly civilized and provided with 
schools of various kinds ; and how the spirit of 
this whole educational enterprise is spreading 
among the nations, notably in England, Germany, 
Japan, and now commencing in Cuba and the 
Philippines, — when we reflect upon all this, we 
are not only impressed with the newness of this 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 83 

expansive feature of modern education, but we 
may be profoundly encouraged with the outlook 
for human progress. 

2. The other aspect of this newness refers to 
the rapid and vast enlargement of knowledge, 
and to the scientific apprehension of the meaning 
of education. 

(1) I cannot better depict the growth of 
knowledge in very recent times than by quoting 
a paragraph from one of Mr. John Fiske's little 
books/ published in 1885, in which he says : 

"When we reflect that a fourth generation has 
barely had time to appear on the scene since Priestley 
discovered that there was such a thing as oxygen, we 
stand awe-struck before the stupendous pile of chem- 
ical science which has been reared in this brief inter- 
val. Our knowledge thus gained of the molecular 
and atomic structure of matter has been alone suffi- 
cient to remodel our conceptions of the universe 
from beginning to end. The case of molecular 
physics is equally striking. The theory of the con- 
servation of energy and the discovery that light, 
heat, electricity, and magnetism are differently con- 
ditioned modes of undulatory motion, transformable 

i The Idea of God, p. 46 et seq. 



84 The Spiritual Outlook. 

each into the other, are not yet fifty years old. In 
physical astronomy we remained until 1839 confined 
within the limits of the solar system, and even here 
the Newtonian theory had not won its crowning 
triumph in the discovery of the planet Neptune. 
To-day we not only measure the distances and move- 
ments of many stars, but by means of spectrum 
analysis are able to tell what they are made of. It 
is more than a century since the nebular hypothesis 
by which we explain the development of stellar sys- 
tems was first propounded by Immanuel Kant, but 
it is only within thirty years that it has been gener- 
ally adopted ; and among the outward demonstrations 
of its essential soundness none is more remarkable 
than its surviving such an enlargement of our knowl- 
edge. Coming to the geologic study of the changes 
that have taken' place on the earth's surface, it was 
in 1830 that Sir Charles Lyell published the book 
which first placed this study on a scientific basis. 
Cuvier's classification of past and present forms of 
animal life, which laid the foundations alike of com- 
parative anatomy and of paleontology, came but little 
earlier. The cell-doctrine of Schleiden and Schwann, 
prior to which modern biology can hardly be said to 
have existed, dates from 1839 ; and it was only ten 
years before that that the scientific treatment of em- 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 85 

bryology began with Von Baer. At the present mo- 
ment (1885) twenty-six years have not elapsed since 
the epoch-making work of Darwin first announced to 
the world the discovery of natural selection." 

Professor Fiske goes on to show how a cor- 
responding progress, equally remarkable and 
equally modern, has taken place in other depart- 
ments of thought and research than that of the 
physical sciences ; and he concludes his review 
by saying that, " in their mental habits, in their 
methods of inquiry, and in the data at their 
command, the men of the present day who have 
fully kept pace with the scientific movement are 
separated from the men whose education ended 
in 1830 by an immeasurably wider gulf than has 
ever before divided one progressive generation 
of men from their predecessors." 1 

The venerable scholar, Professor Alfred Russell 
Wallace, is even more explicit and emphatic in 
setting forth a similar judgment, and he says 
" that to get any adequate comparison with 
the nineteenth century we must take, not any 
preceding century or group of centuries, but 

1 The Idea of God, p. 57. 



86 The Spiritual Outlook. 

rather the whole preceding epoch of human 
history." 1 

(2) But there is one more element in this 
new and rich content of modern education which 
we must notice, namely, the scientific interpre- 
tation of its meaning. The great doctrine of 
evolution, which " unifies all knowledge," as Pro- 
fessor John Bascom well points out, appears to 
be revolutionizing psychology and pedagogy. In 
accordance with this new conception of man's 
place in the organic world, there is growing up 
a new understanding of the development of 
the human mind, in its relations to the human 
body; of its workings at different periods of 
such development; of the special treatment 
which it requires, at each particular stage, at 
the hands of those who undertake to teach and 
train it ; and of the whole object or purpose 
which education should seek to subserve. This 
new view is admirably presented by Professor 
Nicholas Murray Butler, in these words : 

"The doctrine of evolution teaches us to look 
upon the world around us — our art, our science, 

1 The Wonderful Century, p. 156. 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 87 

our literature, our institutions, and our religious 
life — as an integral part, indeed as the essential 
part, of our environment ; and it teaches us to look 
upon education as the plastic period of adapting and 
adjusting our self-active organism to this vast series 
of hereditary acquisitions. . . . The child receives 
first, and in a short series of years, his animal in- 
heritance ; it then remains for us in the period of 
education to see to it that he comes into his human 
inheritance. . . . After the child comes into the en- 
joyment of his physical inheritance, he must be led 
by the family, the school, and the state into his 
intellectual or spiritual inheritance. The moment 
that fact is stated in those terms it becomes abso- 
lutely impossible for us ever again to identify edu- 
cation with mere instruction. ... If education 
cannot be identified with mere instruction, what is 
it ] What does the term mean ] I answer, it must 
mean a gradual adjustment to the spiritual posses- 
sions of the race. Those possessions may be variously 
classified, but they certainly are at least five-fold. 
The child is entitled to his scientific inheritance, to 
his literary inheritance, to his aesthetic inheritance, 
to his institutional inheritance, and to his religious 
inheritance. Without them he cannot become a 
truly educated or a cultivated man. . . . That, it 



88 The Spiritual Outlook. 

seems to me, is the lesson of biology, of physiology, 
and of psychology, on the basis of the theory of 
evolution, regarding the meaning and the place of 
education in modern life." 1 

In the light of this statement we see that 
education to-day — whatever it may have been 
in the past — is not a process of groping in the 
dark, but rather a perfectly intelligent enterprise, 
in which the teacher knows what he is about 
when he takes a child by the hand and leads 
him up into an exceeding high mountain, whence 
he shows him all the kingdoms of this world 
and the glory of them by helping him to under- 
stand, as far as possible, the universe in which 
he lives, by enabling him to appropriate and 
enjoy his rightful share in its boundless wealth, 
and h$ equipping him perchance to penetrate 
somewhat the surrounding, infinite realms of the 

unknown. 

-*• 
Now, if the foregoing account of the character 
of modern education may be accepted as approx- 
imately correct, giving us a true hint of its scope 

1 The Meaning of Education, pp. 13, 14, 16, 17, 81. This 
whole work is to be highly commended. 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 89 

and richness, we are prepared to ask what must 
be its spiritual influence. 

II. The bearing of modern education upon 
spiritual interests may be viewed in three 
aspects, — as affecting the character of the 
people, as modifying religious belief and doc- 
trine, and as helping to shape the work of 
religious institutions. 

1. I scarcely need to take much time to point 
out the influence of education upon human char- 
acter. It is too late in the day to doubt its 
beneficial effects. It enlightens, ennobles, and 
inspires the soul ; it puts it in possession of it- 
self, and enables it to master its surroundings ; 
and it adds to the joy and sacredness of natural 
relationships an interest and a charm w T hich give 
to life its highest zest. Thus it dignifies human 
nature, opens the universe to the contemplation 
of the mind, and yields for the heart untold treas- 
ures of beauty, virtue, and love. All this is 
doubtless trite enough, but I allude to it be- 
cause I am attempting to estimate the power of 
this great, new factor in developing the spiritual 
side of civilization on a stupendous scale. Re- 
membering what modern education is, or is 



90 The Spiritual Outlook. 

coming to be, in the broad sense in which I 
have spoken of it ; remembering that millions 
are being, or are sure to be, reached by it, in 
place of hundreds in former times ; and remem- 
bering that, on the whole, it is a potent means 
of uplifting humanity, as we know from our own 
personal experience and from the experience, 
now, of generations, we can begin to imagine 
what must be its beneficent influence in improv- 
ing the human race, together with its conditions 
and fortunes, in the next hundred years. 

To be sure, education does not as yet realize 
this high ideal to any such extent as we could 
wish, for it is still — taken as a whole — a very 
imperfect instrument. Much of our present edu- 
cation is one-sided, addressing itself too exclu- 
sively to the intellectual faculties, neglecting the 
ethical side of life, and very inadequately touch- 
ing the religious side ; while its methods have 
been too often narrow, inelastic, and at best ten- 
tative in their groping tow r ard something better. 
But this better conception of the real nature and 
function of education is already dawning, as I 
have shown ; and now r one cannot but notice 
how much emphasis is laid upon the formation 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 91 

of character in the pupil, the presentation of 
moral ideals, the development of moral qualities, 
— in short, the making of manhood. This will 
increase, and with its increase will vanish the 
existing dissatisfaction with the paucity of ethi- 
cal and practical results in a good deal of the 
education of to-day. As people come more and 
more to understand how vital and comprehensive 
a thing education really is, they will be ready to 
say with Matthew Arnold "that middle-class 
education is a great democratic reform, of the 
truest, surest, safest kind. Christianity itself 
was such a reform. The kingdom of God, the 
grand object of Jesus Christ, the grand object 
of Christianity, is mankind raised, as a whole, 
into harmony with the true and abiding law 
of man's being, living as we were meant to 
live." 1 

A special feature of the influence of education 
upon popular character deserves attention on 
account of its relation to religion. The teachers 
of religion in the future will have intelligent 
people to deal with, — not savages, not barba- 
rians, not illiterates. They will have to address 
v l Irish Essays, p. 376. 



92 The Spiritual Outlook. 

themselves, increasingly, to those who know- 
something of science, history, and philosophy ; 
who have been trained to think ; and who are 
able to distinguish between truth and error, 
right and wrong, crude assumption and careful 
reasoning. They will be critical, they may be 
skeptical, and they certainly will not swallow 
frauds and falsehoods. Moreover educated 
people have many ways of feeding the spirit, 
and in themselves have the means of judging as 
to the validity of ethical appeals and the au- 
thority of divine truth. All this betokens a 
great advance in the spiritual development of 
the race, and affords a glimpse of the new fields 
in which religion must win its future triumphs. 

2. The remark just made leads us to consider 
how modern education must affect religious faith 
and doctrine. Possibly some people wonder 
whether, ultimately, any such faith and doctrine 
will be left at all. But let us discriminate. 

Of course it is plain that the growing intelli- 
gence of our time renders it increasingly difficult 
to retain in religious teaching the errors of past 
thought; and slowly but surely these errors, 
when clearly demonstrated, will be eliminated. 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 93 

Already this process is going on, and really has 
proceeded farther than many are aware. Be- 
cause both the clergy and the laity must share, 
to a greater or less extent, in the accumulating 
knowledge of the world, and must be more or 
less imbued with the critical spirit that necessa- 
rily accompanies it, they cannot consciously cling 
to views and expressions which they have en- 
tirely outgrown. Hence there is occurring, and 
must continue to occur, a precipitation of error 
in the stream of human thinking, — a gradual 
sinking into subordination of ideas or convic- 
tions that come to be questioned, and a final 
dropping out of sight altogether of those notions 
and tenets which are found to be no longer valid. 
This is precisely what has taken place in the his- 
tory of science, and there is no reason why the 
same thing should not occur in the domain of 
religious faith and doctrine. In fact it is occur- 
ring, as every scholar knows, and nothing can 
stop it ; the whole range of the subject matter 
of religious teaching must be tested and sifted as 
inexorably as every other department of learning. 
But what does this mean? It means that 
religious thought must be purified. When error 



94 The Spiritual Outlook. 

is detected and rejected, truth is freed and pre- 
served for the better apprehension of men ; and 
that truth is all the stronger in its influence for 
having been subjected to the most searching 
scrutiny and proof. This is really what Histori- 
cal and Biblical Criticism means, — a thorough 
re-examination and sifting of our Scriptures and 
our whole Christian inheritance. In other words, 
Knowledge is brought to the service of Faith 
both to remove false supports and to supply or 
reveal new ones. The result is that essentials 
are discovered and appreciated, non-essentials 
are repudiated or assigned to their proper rank, 
and our views of religion are enlarged, clarified, 
rectified, and verified. Therefore whatever re- 
mains in our heritage of religious faith and doc- 
trine must be a far more precious and helpful 
possession than could possibly be the case with- 
out all this critical study. Who can measure the 
value of such a service to the spiritual interests 
of mankind ? 

Moreover, the truth thus threshed out of the 
harvests of the past is immediately sown in the 
wider fields which have opened for men's culti- 
vation, and becomes the seed of a yet larger crop 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 95 

of ideas. It is set in new relations by being 
adjusted to all the other truth that has come to 
be known, and so it is found to be not less but 
greater in its implications than was formerly 
supposed. This fact must not be overlooked. 
The reduction of much that has gone under the 
name of religion to a few simple, fundamental, 
spiritual truths may seem to some people to be a 
diminution of the scope and importance of reli- 
gious interests ; but it is rather a determination 
of universal principles which makes religion a 
vital, inherent, and permanent element in the 
ever-expanding life of the human soul. 

To be sure, there is and will be, in this process 
of readjustment and progress, a good deal of dis- 
turbance, perplexity, and loss. A few will lose 
heart, some will lose faith, and some, alas ! will 
lose their hold on God and virtue. But all this 
will be merely incidental and temporary. The 
race will soon right itself, and when the errors 
of past thought are stripped away, and the new 
visions of truth become clear, we shall have a 
purer, grander Christianity, with a nobler con- 
ception of humanity, than the world has ever 
known before. 






96 The Spiritual Outlook. 

3. Finally, the spiritual influence of modern 
education will increasingly show itself in helping 
to shape the work of religious institutions. 
Think what it must mean to have a host of en- 
lightened, widely learned, well-trained men and 
women directing the practical activities of the 
Christian Church, — men and women who know 
history, who appreciate what is vital and essen- 
tial in Christianity, who understand social con- 
ditions and needs, and who clearly see how this 
great institution should be made a mighty agency 
for the uplift of the race ! For one thing, it will 
mean that religion in the services of the churches 
must be something more than mummery, — that 
they must be reverent, sincere, lighted with the 
light of truth, thoughtful, earnest, helpful. 
Thank God for any influence which may compel 
that! For another thing, when such people 
engage deeply in the work of our churches, we 
shall make our Sunday-schools, or whatever may 
take their place, tenfold more intelligent and 
efficient in their delicate, serious business of 
religious teaching than they are at present. 
Thank God, again, for even the remote prospect 
of that help ! And when you consider what 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 97 

might and should be the philanthropic and 
reformatory work of every church, you can see 
how valuable to society must be the guidance 
which educated minds can afford, — a guidance 
much needed now and too often withheld. In 
the coming days, I trust, it will not be withheld ; 
for thoughtful people will see the enormous 
power and the profound worth of the Christian 
Church as an agency for human improvement, 
and will accord it the service which it needs at 
their hands. Then we shall behold the Christian 
Church taking higher ground and doing a wiser, 
stronger work for the practical redemption of 
mankind than has yet been the case. 

Perhaps I am too optimistic in this confidence. 
I grant that there are some unpleasant facts, just 
now, which point the other way. For there 
appears to be a silent, wide-spread, and increasing 
alienation of the educated classes from the 
Christian churches. I think testimony to this 
effect might be elicited from many sources. The 
phenomenon may be accounted for, in part, by 
the intellectual inhospitality of some churches, — 
it may be their positive hostility to new truth, 
or their retention in their creeds and ceremonies 

7 



98 The Spiritual Outlook. 

of ideas and expressions which intelligent men 
can no longer honestly accept, or their reluctance 
to change their methods of work in accordance 
with the altered intellectual and social environ- 
ment of our time. But the fact that the fault 
does not lie altogether with such churches is 
evident from the further fact that the most 
liberal churches are not thronged, as a rule, with 
either the highly educated classes or with any 
other people. More likely, another cause exists 
in the augmented resources of cultivated minds 
for nourishing themselves, so that they do not 
feel the need of the- church to such an extent as 
do others ; and also in the manifold opportuni- 
ties open to them for serving their fellow-men 
in vital and practical ways. Withal, it is proba- 
ble that many educated persons would confess 
to no small degree of shameful neglect of their 
own religious interests, and an equally reprehen- 
sible dereliction of duty toward one of the most 
important institutions in society. However oc- 
casioned and however styled, — be it an aliena- 
tion, a falling away, an indifference, an honest 
skepticism, or a positive antagonism, — the pres- 
ent attitude of large numbers of enlightened 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 99 

people with reference to the Christian churches 
is a serious matter, not less for the churches 
than for such people themselves. 

Yet I believe this attitude cannot be perma- 
nent. The spiritual impulses of the human soul 
can be depended upon to continue to assert 
themselves in some form of aspiration and con- 
secration, because they are primal, instinctive, 
natural impulses. The intellectual apprehension 
of truth can never be a complete apprehension ; 
the heart has its claims, and the heart will still 
cry out for the living God whenever it is sad or 
pensive or tempted or glad or filled with the 
spirit of holiness, — be it in the night of igno- 
rance or in the daylight of the largest knowledge. 
Besides, the increase of learning will put learned 
men into the pulpits of the churches, and slowly 
but inevitably such men will make over the 
doctrines, ceremonies, and methods by which 
religion expresses itself, — so that it will become 
easier for educated people to feel at home and 
to labor therein. Again, as already intimated, 
such educated people cannot fail to perceive the 
great leverage which the churches have for the 
ethical and spiritual elevation of mankind, — for 

LofC. 



100 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the development of strong characters, for the 
moulding of public sentiment, for the promotion 
of good citizenship, for the service of all the 
higher interests of civilization ; and, perceiving 
all this, they must join heartily in the noble 
ministry which these sacred institutions seek to 
render to society. Above all, the beautiful 
character and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth will 
continue to draw the admiration, reverence, and 
love of all classes of people, and silently mould 
the spirit of the world into fuller harmony with 
the Spirit of God. Therefore I cannot doubt 
that Christianity, which is itself so truly the 
spiritual light of the world, whose Founder was 
a Teacher, and who said, " Ye shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall make you free," will 
still win the allegiance of intelligent men and 
women, and that the reciprocal influence of the 
education which it is foremost in promoting will 
both confirm and extend its blessed principles of 
the divine life, and will help the mighty Insti- 
tution which bears its heavenly message bear also 
its legitimate spirit and fulfil its legitimate 
mission in the world. 

Sometimes, when I get discouraged with the 



The Spiritual Influence of Education. 101 

faultiness of our churches, — their backwardness, 
their inertia, their carelessness, — I comfort my- 
self very greatly by counting on this help that 
will come, that must come, especially from the 
universities, which are the chief centres of light 
in our civilization. I see the vision of an ap- 
proaching day when the power of knowledge, 
incarnated in educated men and women, shall 
come into these imperfect churches, and go to 
work in them, and gradually elevate their spirit, 
clarify their teachings, verify their essential faith, 
reinforce their devotion, and guide them into 
ways of truer usefulness and larger efficiency for 
the building up of the Kingdom of God. May 
the fair dream become a reality in Christian 
America early in the twentieth century ! 



THE PRESENT STAGE OF THEO- 
LOGICAL PROGRESS. 




THE PRESENT STAGE OF THEO- 
LOGICAL PROGRESS. 

EEING that religion is very deeply im- 
plicated in the civilization of our age, 
and is a factor of vital potency and 
permanency in the spiritual development of the 
race, we must be interested in every subject 
that is directly connected with it. Among many 
such none is more closely involved in its influ- 
ence than theology ; and although we frequently 
hear it said that this branch of learning is bear- 
ing little fruit in the present practical era, there- 
by intimating that it is beginning to wither and 
will be soon cut off and cast into the fire, a 
prof ounder judgment will regard the opinion as 
superficial. For let us consider a moment what 
theology really is, how inevitable it is, and what 
is its legitimate function in human life ; then we 
shall be prepared to appreciate the true signifi- 
cance of the theological movement of our time, 
with its marvellous promise of ultimate blessing 
to the world. 



106 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Theology may be simply defined as the exer- 
cise of thought on religious things ; or, more 
fully, as the intellectual apprehension of divine 
truth; or, with still greater precision, as the 
formulated results of such apprehension in the 
classified knowledge which constitutes a science. 
The instant we accept a definition like this, or 
equivalent to it, we perceive that theology is as 
inevitable as intelligence. For we have seen 
that religion, in its nature, as far as we can de- 
termine, is an instinctive impulse, sentiment, as- 
piration, or tendency in the soul of every human 
being ; and that it appears thus to be a spiritual 
force which binds each such soul to the Soul of 
the universe, even as the material force that we 
call gravity binds a planet to its central sun. 
But if we recognize religion in this way as a 
living reality in human experience, however origi- 
nating, and whatever implying beyond the range 
of its immediate activity, we are compelled to 
think about it; and what we think about it 
becomes our theology. Just as we do and must 
think about love, and the moral impulse, and 
the aesthetic sense, and every other phenomenon 
of the soul ; so we do and must think about the 



Theological Progress. 107 

religious sentiment and all that it means. That 
is to say, whatever goes on in the mind and 
heart of man arrests the attention of the cogni- 
tive and reasoning faculties ; indeed, cognition 
and reason themselves become thus the objects 
of cognition and reason simply because man is 
the one peerless creature on earth who can know 
himself. And because what occurs within him- 
self seems to him to be related, however mys- 
teriously, to what occurs in the great universe 
outside of himself, it follows that what he thinks 
of his own inner experiences, that is, his religion, 
he necessarily tries to co-ordinate with his thought 
about the strange Power other than himself that 
appears to fill the worlds and the ages. Some- 
how he comes to feel or believe or imagine that 
this Power, ruling in heaven and on earth, is 
concerned with his personal existence ; and so 
his theology comes to be commensurate with his 
religion, — not only linking his own spiritual life 
with the Supreme Life of the universe, but ex- 
panding his thought about that inmost life of his 
soul to the dimensions of his largest conception 
of the Supreme Thought that lies back of all 
things and that he calls divine. Thus theology 



108 The Spiritual Outlook. 

becomes philosophy, — a theory of religion, and 
an explanation of the Absolute ; and it is in- 
evitable because man has experiences of the soul 
which he cannot help thinking about, and dwells 
in a universe which he cannot help studying. 

Arising in some such way, theology naturally 
has great power in human life. Not only is it 
necessarily true that what a man thinks about 
his own deepest experiences reacts in a measure 
upon those experiences and helps to shape their 
development, but it is equally true that what he 
thinks about the Supreme Power of the universe 
in relation to himself affects profoundly his con- 
duct and character. Just as your political atti- 
tude is largely determined by your comprehensive 
theory of human government, when you follow the 
dictates of enlightened reason and are free to act, 
so is your religious attitude chiefly determined 
by your sincere conception of the nature and 
purpose of the Divine Government. If you 
really believe that the Deity is jealous, vengeful, 
capricious, you will do what you can to placate 
His anger and please His fancy ; and according 
to what you think He requires at your hand will 
you regulate your worship and behavior. On 



Theological Progress. 109 

the contrary, if you conceive that the Deity is 
eternally equable, just, and loving, you will 
honor, trust, and love Him in return, provided 
you are in earnest ; and, believing that He wants 
you to treat your fellow-men as He treats you 
and all, you will be moved to try to imitate Him 
in spirit and action. If, like the Brahman, you 
consider the Supreme Being forever impassive 
and immutable, you will yearn to have your 
soul absorbed in a heaven of endless inactivity, 
too idle even to dream ; w T hile if, like the Pauline 
Christian, you think of God as eternally active 
and creative, and of yourself as His beloved 
child and fellow-worker, you will want to get up 
and go to the ends of the earth to carry out His 
holy will. So it happens, through the delicate in- 
terplay of all the thoughts, feelings, and efforts of 
the soul, that a man becomes, or tends to become, 
like the Deity he worships. Hence theology, by 
giving direction to the operation of the religious 
sentiment, lays a strong, moulding hand upon 
conduct, character, and the course of civilization. 
I might cite the history of religion throughout 
the world in proof of this, but I scarcely need to 
say more. Foolish as religion seems to some 



110 The Spiritual Outlook. 

minds, and vain as they deem theology, it is 
none the less a fact that both religion and 
theology have played an immense part in the 
life of all nations ; and it appears entirely prob- 
able that they will continue to do this, in one 
way or another, until man becomes something 
other than man. 

Now, if it is plain that theology is simply the 
exercise of thought upon religious things, and is 
both inevitable and influential, we must see at 
once that progress in theology becomes possible, 
certain, and more or less continuous. For thought 
is affected by knowledge, and knowledge grows 
from age to age. Every kind of knowledge 
modifies every other kind. Hence theology can- 
not escape the influence of learning in general. 
And since general learning must go on increas- 
ing, because man is in an infinite universe, which 
he cannot help studying ; and since each genera- 
tion must leave its acquisitions, in large part, to 
the next, for assimilation and further augmenta- 
tion, it follows that all knowledge must undergo 
a perpetual process of revision and amplification ; 
and therefore all religious thought, that is, all 
theology, must be subject to progressive modifi- 



Theological Progress. Ill 

cation. Herein lies the folly of that notion of 
finality which has done so much mischief in the 
promulgation of religious doctrine, and which 
reaches its climax in the enunciation of the 
Roman Catholic decree of papal infallibility. 

By these remarks I do not mean to imply that 
there is no such thing as determining divine 
truth, and that we ought not to be as definite 
and exact as possible in stating what we con- 
ceive that truth to be ; but I do mean that we 
must remember the infiniteness of the realm we 
are exploring, and our own finiteness, and must 
hold all our conclusions forever open to re-ex- 
amination. No book of God is closed and sealed, 
and He has not fully revealed Himself to any of 
His children, because no one of His children is 
capable of receiving such a complete revelation 
— any more than your baby can receive a perfect 
disclosure of all your mature thoughts, feelings, 
and intentions. The universe is boundless, God 
is infinite, we must leave room for mystery and 
growth, and we should be thankful for even the 
few broken rays of divine truth which stream 
into our lives to illuminate them with the light 
of holiness. Therefore not only do I argue that 



112 The Spiritual Outlook. 

progress in theology is inevitable, so that we 
cannot dam up the stream if we would ; but I 
plead for the free, reverent, joyful recognition of 
this fact, and for the amplest provision for such 
progress, on the part of every religious organiza- 
tion in the world. 

And now we are ready to try to estimate the 
present stage of theological progress. 

Do I seem presumptuous in attempting such a 
task ? I grant that one would need ten times 
the learning I possess in order to perform it 
thoroughly and with detailed qualifications of 
statement. But my purpose is not to endeavor 
to exhaust the subject, but merely to draw as 
best I can the outlines of the great theological 
movement of our age, as I see and feel it. Of 
course my views are limited by the range of my 
own vision, and colored by the hue of my own 
temperament and experience ; but this is true of 
every student of spiritual phenomena ; and if I 
tell what I think I see, the reader can make 
allowance for the personal element in my obser- 
vations, and can confirm or correct my reflections 
by looking and judging for himself — which is 
what I chiefly desire. 



Theological Progress. 113 

Let me begin with the general remark that the 
vast increase of knowledge during the nineteenth 
century, alluded to in the previous chapter, has 
begun to modify theology by supplying it with 
new data. This is what has brought about the 
unsettled conditions of religious thought in the 
midst of which we now find ourselves. New 
knowledge always disturbs old systems. Horse 
cars and gas lights served the city well enough 
until somebody learned to utilize electricity. A 
shrewd business man, speaking of the trusts, 
said to me, "A trust would be all right if you 
could prevent the formation of new companies." 
So a system of theology, once logically con- 
structed, would be all right if you could keep 
people from discovering new ideas. But new 
ideas are waiting to be discovered, and thou- 
sands of alert minds are diligently searching for 
them ; and when a single great idea is brought 
to light, such as Copernicus or Columbus or 
Bacon or Newton or Darwin wrought out, it im- 
mediately begins to upset previous calculations 
and to fructify the world for new harvests. 

This, then, is the grand characteristic of the 
present stage of theological development, — its 



114 The Spiritual Outlook. 

unsettled state, due to the new data which 
modern learning, recently and enormously aug- 
mented, has furnished it. In the words of Pro- 
fessor William Newton Clarke, " information, in 
inconceivably vast amount, is being thrown upon 
the thought of the time, to be handled and assimi- 
lated. Thought is passing over from the old 
non-scientific methods to the more nearly scien- 
tific movement that modern study has developed. 
Facts are scrutinized with new zeal, and truth is 
tested in new ways. Inquiry knows no bounds. 
Antiquity and prescription count for nothing. 
We desire to know the very thing that is, and 
our certainties are differently grounded from 
those that our fathers held. Vast social prob- 
lems arise, in which we are compelled to find out 
whether we are living together as we ought, and 
what we owe to one another. All fields of 
thought are transformed, and all modes and 
significances of life are altered, in this great 
time of change. Every period is a period of 
transition, but there has never been one like 
this." 1 

Let me now proceed to specify and slightly 

1 What Shall We Think of Christianity ? p. 35. 



Theological Progress. 115 

unfold some of the main particulars comprised 
in this general statement. 

1. As just hinted, probably the strongest in- 
fluence that is modifying the theology of our 
day is the scientific spirit. By the scientific 
spirit I mean an accumulated fund of knowledge, 
a method of inquiry, and a habit of mind — 
which I hardly need explain. As a result of 
the researches of the physical scientists, — the 
astronomers, the geologists, the chemists, and 
the biologists, — I suppose one may justly say 
that the universe is to us a thousand times 
larger, a thousand times older, a thousand times 
more complex, and a thousand times more preg- 
nant with life than the men of a century ago 
dreamed of its being. What wonder that all 
this has thrown new light upon the problems 
of theology? It has compelled their re-examina- 
tion in all their bearings, and it is likely that 
the doctrine of evolution alone will soon or late 
lead to radical restatements of religious truth. 
The first-fruits of this great doctrine have been 
gathered by the physicians and the school- 
teachers, but the preachers of religion will come 
in for their share by and by. For, far from 



116 The Spiritual Outlook. 

undermining their position, or invalidating re- 
ligion as a factor in human life — as some have 
hastily surmised — this profound and sweeping 
generalization of science has but laid new foun- 
dations, more deeply than others, for the spiritual 
temple of human faith, hope, and love. To those 
who question this judgment I commend the 
reading of Professor John Bascom's little book 
entitled " Religion and Evolution," published in 
1897. He did not, indeed, give me the opinion 
just expressed, but he strongly confirms it. And 
I do truly think that, when we shall have got 
beyond the period of disturbance and doubt 
through which we are now passing, we shall see 
that modern science, and the theory of evolution 
in particular, instead of having cut religion out 
of the human soul and God out of the universe, 
have given us a firmer and more vital appre- 
hension of both. 

Then the scientific spirit has changed the 
working procedure of the theologians. It has 
taught them the scientific method, — the method 
of observation, inference, and verification, — the 
so-called inductive method, which has yielded 
the world about all the scientific knowledge of 



Theological Progress. 117 

any value that it possesses. By this method the 
theologians of every school are slowly learning 
how to gather facts, how to handle them, what 
comparison is worth, and how to wait until they 
have thus observed widely and carefully before 
drawing their conclusions ; and even then they 
do not forget to test and verify those conclusions 
over and over. The value of this procedure is 
very great : it substantiates the truth ; it enables 
each generation to conquer and vitalize its inheri- 
tance ; and it insures continual progress. 

Again, the scientific spirit has changed the 
temper of the theologians. Most people are 
aware how dogmatic, intolerant, controversial it 
used to be. Now it is broad, hospitable, humble. 
Many persons suppose that, because dogmatism 
has thus waned, popular interest in theology has 
declined. Undoubtedly there is a measure of 
truth in such a supposition. Nevertheless 
thoughtful men are still interested in the great, 
fundamental problems of theology; only they 
approach and treat them in a different frame of 
mind, with a wider outlook upon other fields of 
learning ; and they think that the theologians 
do not know it all, and the theologians are 



118 The Spiritual Outlook. 



beginning to think so, too. This reverent open- 
mindedness is one of the most salutary attitudes 
which Christian people can be taught to assume, 
not less for its spiritual than for its intellectual 
advantages. In due time its influence in the 
churches will broaden, deepen, and ennoble their 
worship and their piety as well as their thought, 
while it will redeem "the queen of sciences" 
from that arbitrary spirit which has too often 
characterized her pronouncements. 

2. The next great influence that is modifying 
theology to-day comes from historical and Bibli- 
cal criticism. The scientific spirit or method 
applied to a new study of history and the Scrip- 
tures has given us a new conception of God's 
revelation of Himself. The Bible is no longer 
to be read as a verbally inspired and wholly 
infallible Book, all alike from beginning to end, 
and containing an exact disclosure of the Divine 
Mind; but rather as a great literature, pro- 
duced by a profoundly religious people who 
learned in their national and private experiences 
the most vital lessons about God's providence, 
and whose passionate ethical faith has become 
the inspiration of the world. And history has 



Theological Progress. 119 

come to be viewed, in its religious aspects, as 
another " great book of God," as Archdeacon 
Farrar has truly called it; and the ideas and 
institutions of the past, as well as those of the 
present, are now judged in the light of their 
origin, and are seen to fall into their legitimate 
place in the vast process of development that 
runs through the ages. 

As a result of this critical work, we now have 
a clearer, more vivid, and more accurate under- 
standing of all the substantial facts in the history 
and beliefs of the Israelitish people, of the life 
and times of Jesus, of the conditions and cir- 
cumstances attendant upon the birth of the 
Christian Church, and of its status and work in 
every era since, than students in any other age 
have been able to gain. Therefore our theology 
is being marvellously enriched and reassured, as 
well as clarified and rectified ; and it may easily 
turn out that the contribution of historical and 
Biblical criticism to spiritual faith will be even 
greater than the service rendered by the physical 
sciences. 

Of course the benefits accruing from this new 
branch of learning have not yet reached the 



120 The Spiritual Outlook. 

masses of people, even in the churches ; and 
doubtless the fruits thus far produced have 
seemed to minds fixed in traditional views 
mainly evil, being apparently so largely disturb- 
ing, negative, and destructive. But the work of 
clearing the ground of old growths is always 
necessary to new harvests. The reformer is 
usually at first an iconoclast. But in due time 
the positive, constructive stage of this great 
movement will be reached, — indeed, it has 
been fully reached already for many scholars; 
and the better conceptions will begin erelong 
to impregnate the popular mind with those vital 
seed-truths which will ultimately bring forth 
among Christians generally a more natural and 
spiritual faith in the operations of the Divine 
Spirit in our human world. 

3. Another characteristic of present theology 
is its wider outlook upon the world. Several 
causes have conspired to produce this. Among 
them may be prominently mentioned these : 
travel and commerce, opening up the nations; 
the work of Christian missions, broadening our 
religious sympathy as well as our human interest ; 
and the comparative study of the various reli- 



Theological Progress. 121 

gions of mankind, teaching us a truer view of the 
nature of religion, a higher estimate of man's 
spiritual capacity, and a more just conception of 
the real rank and value of Christianity. Con- 
sequently we do not speak of the primitive or 
savage or inferior peoples of the various lands as 
" heathen " in the sense in which our grand- 
fathers did; and another, higher, deeper, more 
enduring motive than that of saving them from 
endless punishment is beginning to inspire the 
work of carrying the gospel to them. Thus the 
reactionary influence of foreign missions has puri- 
fied the spiritual life of the home churches ; while 
the researches of such great students of religion as 
the late Professor Max Muller have taught us that 

" God sends His messengers to every age, 
To every clime and race of men, 
With revelations fitted to their growth 
And shape of mind ; nor gives the realm 
Of truth into the selfish charge 
Of one sole race." 1 

4. Still another mark of the theology of our 
time is its strong social bent. The rise of the 
social interest is one of the striking phenomena 
of the closing quarter of the nineteenth century. 

1 Lowell. 



122 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Every intelligent person shares this interest to 
some extent. It is not strange therefore that 
theology, now broadened and mollified, should 
feel a deep sympathy with this very significant 
movement. For it is really an inspiration of 
humanity, and humanity is God's chief care, at 
least in the estimation of the theologian. Chris- 
tianity exists expressly for the redemption of 
mankind; hence the Christian thinker cannot 
but be keenly concerned in everything that per- 
tains to man's real welfare. Therefore he seeks 
to understand the Divine will respecting human 
relationships ; and, on the other hand, he looks 
to find in the natural laws governing such rela- 
tionships a clear indication of that will. For if 
this is God's world, and man is God's child, and 
the laws of nature are simply God's methods, we 
shall learn what He requires of us in our deal- 
ings with one another by a truer comprehension 
of the structure of human society. Accordingly 
the theologian in these days feels that he needs 
to learn of the sociologist, while his heart impels 
him to engage in every good work of social 
betterment. So I think we may expect to see 
theology, for the next twenty-five years, largely 



Theological Progress. 123 

dominated by what I have called the social 
interest, — which will mean that those aspects 
of religious thought will be most prominent 
which emphasize the Divine will concerning 
man's duty to his fellow-men. 

Obviously one effect of this must be to make 
religious teaching and work more immediately 
practical. Preaching will be less speculative 
and abstruse, more vital and concrete. Not so 
much attention will be given to affairs in the 
next world, but more will be given to the actual 
affairs of this world. Men will be prepared to 
die by being fitted to live. They will strive 
less to get ready for heaven, and more to es- 
tablish the kingdom of heaven on earth. They 
will see that they have their part to do in this 
great and holy task because they are laborers 
together with God by virtue of the fact that they 
are His children. Thus the sense of moral re- 
sponsibility will be deepened, and discipleship to 
Jesus Christ will mean co-operation in the com- 
plete redemption of the world from all manner 
of evil. So will the scope of Christianity's mis- 
sion be vastly enlarged, varied, and intensified ; 
and, far from being reduced to the ministrv of 



124 The Spiritual Outlook. 

altruism untouched by the thought of God, it 
will rather rest back entirely upon the great, 
central truth in the teaching of Jesus, namely, 
the Divine Fatherhood, legitimizing and requiring 
human brotherhood, including all true sympathy 
and wise helpfulness. 

5. The next characteristic of present theology 
which I will mention is its truer ranking of Jesus 
Christ. In the past there has been an unnatu- 
ral, overstrained conception of Christ, which has 
made him seem remote and unreal. But now, 
through a clearer and more accurate understand- 
ing of his historical personality, he is becom- 
ing far more near, real, and dear to every 
enlightened Christian. In place of the mytho- 
logical Christ, the philosophical Christ, the eccle- 
siastical Christ, and the dogmatic Christ, who 
has occupied the thought of the centuries 
gone, there is coming to be a warm, loving, 
human Christ. People in all the churches are 
beginning to think of him, not as God, but 
rather as "a Teacher sent from God," — a 
blessed, beautiful, majestic Teacher, come to be 
the spiritual Light of the world, the Lover and 
Redeemer of men. In this, the people are not 



Theological Progress. 125 

drifting away from Jesus of Nazareth, but are 
drawing nearer to him, and taking him into their 
personal affections more naturally and more help- 
fully than ever before. They are less interested 
in discussing the question of his divinity — at 
any rate in the old sense — but they identify 
him more closely with humanity, or identify 
humanity more closely with him. And this 
identification is not so much speculative or philo- 
sophical as it is ethical and practical ; that is to 
say, it is increasingly felt that Jesus Christ is the 
great, true Example for man, in moral conduct 
and in religious faith ; and so those are con- 
sidered most really his followers who strive most 
earnestly to walk " in his steps." * 

This gratifying fact, that we are coming to a 
truer appreciation of Jesus Christ, and are letting 
him have his natural influence over our thinking 
and our conduct, is one of the highest and most 
salutary means of purifying Christian theology, 
as it is the surest means of blessing his disciples 
and the whole world. Henceforward his place 
is more secure in human thought and love than 

1 See Whittier's poem "Our Master" for an admirable ex- 
pression of this natural, spiritual, practical view. 



126 The Spiritual Outlook. 

ever before, and men will turn to him increas- 
ingly as the one Great Teacher for all classes, all 
races, all times. 1 The more the habiliments of 
myth and legend are stripped away, the more 
clearly does he stand revealed as the Command- 
ing Figure of history, the Spiritual Leader of 
mankind, the Saviour of the world ; and I think 
Christians of every denomination can echo these 
sentiments of Richard Watson Gilder : — 

" Behold Him now where He comes ! 
Not the Christ of our subtle creeds, 
But the light of our hearts, of our homes, 
Of our hopes, our prayers, our needs ; 
The brother of want and blame, 
The lover of women and men, 
With a love that puts to shame 
All passions of mortal ken. 



Ah no, thou life of the heart, 
Never shalt thou depart ! 
Not till the leaven of God 
Shall lighten each human clod ; 
Not till the world shall climb 
To thy height serene, sublime, 
Shall the Christ who enters our door 
Pass to return no more." 2 

1 Since this chapter was written, Prof. F. G. Peabody's 
" Jesus Christ and the Social Question " aptly illustrates this. 

2 Quoted by Henry Van Dyke in " The Gospel for an Age 
of Doubt, "p. 124. 



Theological Progress. 127 

6. Another distinguishing trait of theology at 
present, which must not be overlooked, is a 
nobler estimate of man. In the past human 
nature has been excessively depreciated. It is 
easy to see how it came about when one is 
familiar with the peculiar antecedents, experi- 
ences, and influence of St. Augustine, who is 
chiefly responsible for the doctrine of total de- 
pravity in the Christian Church of the last fifteen 
centuries. But happily, at length, after Calvin's 
reinforcement of this dogma has had its day, an 
effectual reaction has set in to so great an extent 
as to begin to right up the thinking of the ma- 
jority of religious teachers respecting man's place 
in the scale of being. It was one of the con- 
spicuous services of Channing to the purification 
of modern Christian thought that he used his 
fine abilities to correct the hoary error ; but 
many other influences have helped to produce 
the good result. Accordingly, as w T ill be shown 
in a subsequent chapter, 1 one of the finest devel- 
opments of our age has been a growing apprecia- 
tion of human worth, which in turn reinforces 
our faith in God. For it is now quite plain that 

1 See chap. ix. 



128 The Spiritual Outlook. 

our highest reasons for believing in God lie 
within the spiritual realm which is experimentally 
known to us in human life. It is because we 
know man to be a spiritual being — intelligent, 
loving, virtuous, free — that we are led to pos- 
tulate a Source that is at least not less than the 
utmost of all this, — a Fountain of life whence 
flow all lesser lives, — an Eternal Goodness 
whence springs every other form of goodness. 
Therefore if we depreciate man we annihilate 
God ; while the more highly we estimate man, 
the loftier will be our conception of the Divine 
Paternity. Of course the thing for us to do, 
regardless of consequences, is to keep close to 
the facts of human nature ; but it is just because 
we are learning to let the facts speak for them- 
selves, and these facts testify to something good 
and great in humanity, that our faith in the 
spiritual constitution of the universe and in the 
Beneficent Power that is the Soul of it is slowly 
but steadily rising. The creature that has 
climbed, through whatever long ages and by 
whatever devious ways, out of animalism into 
some " measure of the stature of the fulness of 
Christ " speaks to us more cogently than all other 



Theological Progress. 129 

phenomena of the Creator who has made such 
an achievement possible by breathing a spiritual 
life into the world of matter. And so it comes 
about that a better thought of man assures a 
larger faith in God, and the evolution which we 
can trace becomes the most trustworthy indica- 
tion of that realm of progressive development 
which lies beyond our present ken. 

This noble estimate of man does not blind us 
to the human frailty and depravity which do 
actually exist. It is no poetic dream that we 
cherish. Our race is not a race of angels. Beast- 
liness, grossness, ignorance, wickedness, in all 
their hideous proportions, are not less but rather 
more clearly recognized in the light of evolution 
than under former theories. But they are more 
truly understood, are seen to be incidental, and 
are therefore shown to be vulnerable and tem- 
porary. They can be overcome, outgrown, tran- 
scended ; and our business is to be helpers of 
God, as far as our power can reach, in the mighty 
process of accomplishing such a result. Hence 
we are not lulled to sleep by a doctrine of moral 
laissezfaire, but are rather stimulated to the sub- 
limest of struggles. Each of us has an individu- 



130 The Spiritual Outlook. 

ality of his own to develop, strengthen, and 
perpetuate ; each of us can lend a little aid to 
his fellow-men ; and each of us is called of God 
to enlist in the great conflict until the spiritual 
victory is won for " the whole family in heaven 
and on earth." Surely a theology that thus em- 
phasizes the inherent dignity and the priceless 
value of the human soul, and yet recognizes its 
imperfection and the terrific struggle that its 
development involves, while postulating a Divine 
Order that is "over all and through all and 
in all," must inspire every man with a sense 
of personal responsibility and an undaunted 
courage. 

7. The last noteworthy feature of the present 
stage of theological progress that I can mention 
is the enthronement of love. Theology naturally 
directs attention mainly to God, and the influ- 
ence of the ideas that are entertained concerning 
Him flows downward through all other aspects 
of religious thought. It is perhaps the crown- 
ing excellence of our Christian faith in these 
days that we are able to say, and to mean it 
when we say, that " God is love." After ages 
of attributing to Him malice or caprice or impo- 



Theological Progress. 131 

tence, of considering Him remote or implacable 
or austere, we are now believing most intelligently 
and joyfully that He is none other than "the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," — his Father 
and our Father, his God and our God. 1 As such 
He cannot be inferior in character to the world's 
Redeemer, but on the contrary must transcend 
him ; for Jesus himself said, " My Father is 
greater than I." But to think of God as at 
least Christ-like is necessarily to conceive of 
Him as good, benevolent, affectionate, benefi- 
cent. Accordingly it is not too much to say that 
the gospel of this age, increasingly preached 
in all the churches, is the gospel of Divine Love 
unfathomable and eternal. Indeed, the only 
alternative to this glorious message is bald ma- 
terialism and downright atheism — it is either a 
God of love or no God at all. 

But let it be noted that this conception does 
not emasculate the Divine Character. It does 
not rob God of His righteousness and make Him 
a fond, indulgent, but weak Deity. The element 
of justice is essential to true love. Jesus taught 
men to reason from human fatherhood to the 

1 John xx. 17. 



132 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Divine Fatherhood when he said, "If ye, then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
children ; how much more shall your heavenly 
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
him ? " * In so doing he appealed to the sense 
of justice in men as well as to the sentiment of 
affection ; and every thoughtful man knows that 
that is no true and worthy human love that is 
not thoroughly righteous ; hence it is impossible 
to have any adequate notion of God's love with- 
out a duly correlative notion of His righteous- 
ness. This necessarily means that He is the 
Infinite Opponent of all unrighteousness, which 
in turn means that He must rid the universe of 
it. Therefore every man must understand that 
God Almighty sets His face against iniquity, 
and calls upon all wrong-doers to turn from the 
evil of their ways ; that punishments are admin- 
istered to this end, and accordingly need to be 
severe ; and that all the resources of Divine 
Providence are pledged to the gracious work of 
redeeming mankind from sin, whereof the high- 
est type is seen in the life and gospel of Jesus 
Christ. 

1 Luke xi. 13. 



Theological Progress. 133 

Moreover it is to be recognized that, because 
u God is love," the supreme law of the spiritual 
life is love. He who lives most fully in love is 
most truly in harmony with God. "No man 
hath seen God at any time. If we love one 
another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is 
perfected in us." * The surest way of know- 
ing God, of feeling and finding Him in the 
various experiences of life, is to live continually 
in the spirit of Christ-like love. Love is more 
important than logic or knowledge as a means 
of faith. The world has scarcely begun to learn 
this simple but profound lesson. The world's 
life has been largely founded in fear, selfishness, 
and strife. It has yet to be established and 
conducted in confidence, love, and peace. In 
proportion as this nobler type of theology, en- 
throning love, makes itself felt will men come 
to see that those who " walk in love, as Christ 
also loved us, and gave himself for us," are 
walking with God, working by God's method, 
and helping to build up the kingdom of God. 
In this beautiful and blessed teaching lies the 
hope of the world. 

1 1 John iv. 12. 



134 The Spiritual Outlook. 

As I thus sketch the great movement of re- 
ligious thought flowing through our Christian 
civilization to-day, I perceive anew that theology 
is at length beginning really to free itself from 
the dominance of Latin Christianity, which has 
furnished our Western mind with its ruling con- 
ceptions for fifteen hundred years ; and I rejoice 
to believe that we stand at the dawn of an era 
which will surely work out a new, higher, more 
helpful system of spiritual philosophy than has 
been dreamed of hitherto, except in the holy 
gospel of the Son of Man. 



THE PLACE OF CHEISTIANITY AMONG 
THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, AND THE 
MEANING OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 




THE PLACE OF CHRISTIANITY AMONG 
THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, AND THE 
MEANING OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 

HE previous chapter called attention 
to the fact that one of the character- 
istics of religious thought at present 
is its wider outlook upon the world, due to 
various causes. The present chapter may prop- 
erly commence at this point, and it may be well 
approached by way of the general remark that 
our whole modern civilization, for the last five 
hundred years, can be fairly described as an 
expansive movement. Ever since the age of the 
Renaissance the Western mind has extended its 
activity in all directions. Beginning with the 
Greek and Roman classics, and the art, philoso- 
phy, and state -craft lying behind them, it has 
sought to conquer every realm that it could 
touch. Especially since Columbus and Magellan 
demonstrated the rotundity of the earth, it has 
sent its ships into every quarter of the globe, and 
wherever its restless energies could exert them- 



138 The Spiritual Outlook. 

selves it has pushed on in its work of exploration, 
investigation, invention, commerce, conquest, and 
colonization. At length the whole world lies 
open before it, and the cosmopolitan spirit is 
influencing its views of all human interests. 

Resulting from this expansion, there has been 
a growing knowledge of mankind, which is now 
wonderfully large and varied. Travellers and 
traders going everywhere have come into contact 
with all sorts and conditions of people, and these 
" sorts " have turned out to be far more numer- 
ous and strange than the men of a few centuries 
ago could conceive to be possible, while the 
" conditions " disclosed have ranged from those 
of the wild human brute, standing just on the 
edge of the animal kingdom, up through savagery 
and all stages of barbarism to the highest types 
of spiritual civilization. Scholars have patiently 
gathered the facts pertaining to the different 
tribes and races thus discovered, and from their 
fruitful study there have been developed several 
most instructive sciences. One of these is eth- 
nology, or the classified knowledge of the manifold 
divisions of the human family in their likenesses 
and dissimilarities ; another is philology, or the 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 139 

interpretation of the various languages and liter- 
atures of the world ; while still another is the 
comparative study of religious, or the description 
and explanation of the numerous cults, beliefs, 
rites, doctrines, and organizations which make 
up the religious phenomena of mankind. To- 
gether these great sciences give us an intelligent 
understanding of human nature and human his- 
tory such as never existed before, and the gist 
of which may be comprehended in a brief time 
by any earnest student who reads the book of 
life by the wondrous lamp of learning. 

In particular the comparative study of re- 
ligions, working hand in hand with ethnology, 
has fully established the remarkable fact that 
religion is a universal as well as a powerful 
factor in human life. From the most primitive 
man to the most cultivated there is a manifesta- 
tion of the religious instinct in some way. Says 
Dr. Daniel G. Brinton — as high an authority on 
this subject, I suppose, as America has produced : 
"The fact is that there has not been a single 
tribe, no matter how rude, known in history or 
visited by travellers, which has been shown to be 
destitute of religion, under some form. The con- 



140 The Spiritual Outlook. 

trary of this has been asserted by various modern 
writers of weight, for example by Herbert Spen- 
cer and Sir John Lubbock, not from their own 
observation, for neither ever saw a savage tribe, 
but from the reports of travellers and mission- 
aries. I speak advisedly when I say that every 
assertion to this effect when tested by careful 
examination has proved erroneous." He pro- 
ceeds to show how the mistaken judgment has 
occurred, and then concludes by saying, " Re- 
ligion, therefore, is and has been, so far as his- 
tory informs us, universal in the human race." 
And prior to these remarks he has this para- 
graph : " The religiosity of man is a part of his 
psychical being. In the nature and laws of the 
human mind, in its intellect, sympathies, emo- 
tions, and passions, lie the well-springs of all 
religions, modern or ancient, Christian or hea- 
then. To these we must refer, by these we must 
explain, whatever errors, falsehoods, bigotry, or 
cruelty have stained man's creeds and cults ; to 
them we must credit whatever truth, beauty, 
piety, and love have hallowed and glorified his 
long search for the perfect and the eternal." 1 

1 Religions of Primitive Peoples, chap, i., 1898. 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 141 

I am glad to quote such emphatic words from 
so distinguished a scholar because they entirely 
confirm my own long-cherished and profound 
conviction to the same purport, namely, that 
man is naturally a religious being, just as truly 
as he is a rational or an affectionate being. 
This is the bed-rock upon which I rest all my 
own work as a Christian minister, and I believe 
it should be likewise fundamental in every phase 
of religious evangelism, entreaty, and appeal. 
Yet how different has been the ruling concep- 
tion of Latin Christianity for fifteen hundred 
years ! Man a fallen and ruined creature, natu- 
rally perverse, alienated from the life of God, 
and incapable of approaching Him without help 
from on high, — such has been the basis of all 
the theology, the exhortation, the revivalism, and 
the missionary effort of Western Christendom, 
with only a few notable exceptions, during this 
long period. But now, happily, these scientific 
disclosures are laying a new and far more solid 
foundation for all religious propaganda or culture 
by demonstrating beyond peradventure the uni- 
versality, naturalness, and indestructibleness of 
man's religious endowment. This means that 



142 The Spiritual Outlook. 

henceforth the enlightened teacher of religion 
will trust the native religious capacity of the 
human soul as implicitly as the educator trusts 
its intellectual capacity. Religion is not some- 
thing to be created in the life of men, but 
something to be developed, cultivated, perfected. 
Even Jesus Christ does not impart spiritual life, 
or the moral sense, or the thirst for God de novo ; 
he merely quickens, arouses, reinforces, and up- 
builds all this. Man does not have to be made 
over, literally and completely, in order to become 
the child of God ; he is the child of God already, 
and has simply to be taught of his Father, made 
aware of his lineage and his birthright, lifted out 
of the mire of ignorance and sin, and helped 
to attain the spirituality of life and character 
which is the Divinely appointed goal of his 
being. And because he is forever God's child, 
though often wayward and wicked, we can 
say, in all truth and soberness and joy, that 
he cannot rid himself of his nature as such, 
though he may frightfully abuse and injure 
himself; and that he cannot get away from the 
reach of the Divine Spirit, although he may 
so imbrute himself as to be practically un- 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 143 

aware that the Almighty Hand still has hold 
of him. 

" Man cannot be God's outlaw if he would, 
Xor so abscond him in the caves of sense 
But Xature still shall search some crevice out 
With messages of splendor from that Source 
Which, dive he, soar he, baffles still and lures." * 

Now, standing upon this broad ground, in the 
clear light of knowledge, recognizing the fact 
that all men, in all stages of culture, are religious 
beings by nature, and expecting to find a great 
variety of manifestations of the religious spirit, 
we may attempt a fair examination and compari- 
son of the leading religious systems of the world. 
This important task has been performed by 
scholars who have made the subject a special 
study, and the results of their researches are 
available for our instruction. Accordingly, as 
the Parliament of Religions at Chicago, in 1893, 
invited the representatives of the principal ex- 
tant faiths of mankind to come and speak their 
respective messages to the listening nations, so 
each of us can have his own little parliament of 
religions by sitting down to read the thrilling 

1 Lowell. 



144 The Spiritual Outlook. 

tale which these scholars tell us about the spirit- 
ual aspirations of the human race, not only at 
present, but also in past ages. For the magic 
wand of learning summons from the dead the 
ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, and Roman 
— yea, even the men of prehistoric times — and 
bids them speak to us out of their recovered lit- 
eratures, monuments, utensils, and charms. Thus 
there is presented to the intelligent imagination 
a panorama of the world's religious evolution as 
impressive and inspiring as any development that 
the biologist or the sociologist can portray. As 
Professor Allan Menzies well says, " the study of 
the religions of the world is the study of the very 
soul of its history ; it is the study of the desires 
and aspirations which throughout the course of 
history men have not been ashamed, nay, which 
they have been proud and determined, to confess. 
No more fascinating study could possibly engage 
us." 1 He also truly remarks that "the religious 
beliefs and practices of mankind are not a mere 
chaos, not a mere incessant outburst of unreason, 
consistent only in that it has appeared in every 
age and every country of the world ; but that 

1 History of Religion, 1895, p. 14. 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 145 

they form a cosmos, and may be known, if we 
take the right way, as a part of human life from 
which reason has never been absent, and in which 
a growing purpose has fulfilled and still fulfils 
itself. The foremost writers on the science of 
religion are full of this conviction ; they call their 
works histories, and attempt to show that the 
religions of the world have a vital connection 
with each other and are manifestations in differ- 
ent ways of the same spirit." 1 How admirably 
this comports with what St. Paul said at Athens : 2 
"God hath made of one every nation of men 
for to dwell on all the face of the earth, having 
determined their appointed seasons, and the 
bounds of their habitation ; that they should 
seek God, if haply they might feel after him, and 
find him, though he is not far from each one 
of us " ! 

Of course I cannot go into any particulars in 
treating so large a topic in a few pages ; I can 
barely allude to two or three of its salient fea- 
tures, and undertake to state most briefly a few 
of the general conclusions which I believe we 

1 History of Religion, 1895, pp. 3, 4. 

2 Acts xvii. 26, 27. 

io 



146 The Spiritual Outlook. 

are warranted in holding as the result of investi- 
gation and reflection. 1 

1. The great national religious systems known 
in history — Confucianism, Brahmanism, Bud- 
dhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Mohammedan- 
ism, as well as those of Egypt, Greece, and Rome 
— with all their rites, dogmas, and institutions, 
are to be regarded as just so many expressions 
of the spiritual heart-hunger of the human race. 
Unspiritual as many of them are, gross and 
superstitious and cruel as they seem to us, we 
are yet to see in them the gropings of man 
toward the light of divine truth, and the finding 
of some of that light, however colored by the 
medium of peculiar race-qualities. For it is un- 
questionable that each race expresses its genius, 
its tendencies, its character in its religion as well 
as in its art, its philosophy, and its social order. 

1 The reader who desires fuller information on the subject, 
rendered in somewhat popular form, may consult the following 
works: "Ten Great Religions," two vols., by James Freeman 
Clark, 1880-83; "Religions Before Christianity," by Prof. 
C. C. Everett, 1884 ; " History of Religion," by Prof. Allan 
Menzies, 1895; "Religions of Primitive Peoples," by Dr. 
Daniel G. Brinton, 1898 ; " The Story of Religions," by Rev. 
E. D. Price, F.G.S., 1898 ; and the many references which 
these furnish. 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 147 

But the ground fact, and the grand fact, under- 
neath all these varied expressions is that the 
great, common human heart has cried out for God, 
the living God, — that is, has yearned, aspired, 
struggled toward some apprehension of the un- 
seen realities whose reflections flicker in the soul 
and beckon from the outer world. How impres- 
sive this fact becomes when rightly viewed ! 

" So runs my dream ; but what am I ? 

An infant crying in the night, 

An infant crying for the light, 

And with no language but a cry ! " 

Even so ; yet that cry voices the want and the 
capacity of the child of the Eternal ; and noth- 
ing can satisfy it but the answering love of the 
Divine Paternity. " Thou hast made us for Thy- 
self, Lord," says St. Augustine, " and we are 
restless til] we rest in Thee." 

2. These various religions have been the 
spiritual light of large portions of the human 
race. Sir Edwin Arnold wrote one of his great 
poems and called it " The Light of Asia " to 
celebrate the influence of Buddhism over more 
millions of people than are touched by any other 
system of religious teaching. Each of these 



148 The Spiritual Outlook. 

systems, embodying some measure of spiritual 
truth, beauty, and goodness, has educated un- 
told multitudes into a clearer realization of divine 
things than could have been possible without 
any religious teachings whatever. How unsym- 
pathetic our feeling toward man, and how nar- 
row our view of God's spiritual providence, if 
we suppose that the countless millions of people 
outside of Christendom have had no genuine faith, 
piety, and virtue, and that the Divine Spirit has 
been utterly without witness among them ! How 
much nobler to exclaim with St. Peter, " Of a 
truth I perceive that God is no respecter of per- 
sons : but in every nation he that feareth him, 
and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him"! 
Perhaps no lesson that has been taught us by 
the expansive movements of modern times is 
more corrective of past bigotry than that which 
shows us that Divine Providence has cared for 
somebody else in this great world besides Jews 
and Christians. 

3. Nevertheless a candid study of the different 
religions, as compared with Christianity, discloses 
the fact that they are one-sided, incomplete, in- 
ferior. Brahmanism, for example, is excessively 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 149 

developed on the spiritual side, but is deficient 
on the moral and practical side. On the other 
hand, Buddhism and Confucianism are strong 
morally and practically, but are painfully defi- 
cient spiritually: hence they lack enthusiasm, 
hopefulness, the forward look ; and therefore 
progress is wanting — although it becomes an 
interesting question how far the religion makes 
the people, and how far the people make their 
religion. At any rate, the vast, stagnant popula- 
tions of the Orient, excepting that of Japan, lie 
w r aiting for the leaven of a bright, inspiring in- 
fluence to vitalize their inert masses and raise 
them out of their bondage to the dead past. So 
I might go on, as the various writers have done 
in whose steps I follow here, to point out the 
defects of the other leading religions, — Zoroas- 
trianism, or the religion of the Persians, Moham- 
medanism, and even Judaism; not merely for 
the sake of finding fault with them, but to show 
— what is really the case — that each of them is 
weak in some vital respect, so that it cannot 
satisfy the needs of a fully developed humanity, 
or lift a race into a complete and symmetrical 
spiritual life, or become the universal religion of 



150 The Spiritual Outlook. 

civilized mankind. It requires no unjust dispar- 
agement of these various religious systems to 
emphasize such deficiencies; they appear upon 
even the most sympathetic and appreciative ex- 
amination of them. And while it may be freely 
conceded that these religions have been the legiti- 
mate products of the races that have exhibited 
them, and so are part and parcel of their life, 
and therefore may be thought quite sufficient for 
their needs, if not indeed better adapted thereto 
than any other form of religion that could be 
grafted upon their civilizations ; yet it is plain 
that, just because they are thus bound up with 
the nature and attainments of their respective 
peoples, they are not able to raise those peoples 
to higher levels. In fact, no small part of the 
bondage in which so many millions of earth's 
population are held is precisely such a religious 
thraldom as results when a people's civilization 
has become stereotyped, immobile, lifeless, — 
" lying between two worlds, powerless to be 
born." 

4. Admitting the substantial validity of this 
contention, it will appear upon further considera- 
tion that Christianity's pre-eminence among the 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 151 

various religions of the world consists, not in the 
fact that it teaches truths which have never been 
taught by them, but rather in the fact that it 
includes essentially all the truths which they con- 
tain, without their errors and defects, and pre- 
sents a full-orbed, harmonious, vital, and spiritual 
system of religious ideas, motives, and objects. 
Of course I am speaking of Christianity, not as 
misconceived by this or that exponent, but as 
exemplified in the words, life, and character of 
its great Founder, interpreted in the light of our 
best knowledge. And the claim is here made 
that the Christianity of Jesus Christ has all the 
valuable truth that any other religion has, and is 
strong where other systems are weak, and is 
instinct with spiritual vitality where most of 
them are largely formal and inert. It presents 
God as the infinite and adorable Spirit, to match 
Brahmanism ; but it does not deny the existence 
of matter. It is as practical as Confucianism 
and as kind as Buddhism; but it elevates all 
daily life and commonplace relationships by the 
power of a glad, loving devotion to a Heavenly 
Father. It is as moral as Judaism, but is free 
from the hampering legalism which has burdened 



152 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the latter. It is as aggressive as Mohammedan- 
ism, but it conquers by love and not by the 
sword. It teaches men of heaven, and makes 
them think much of a glorified immortality as 
the destiny of the human soul; but it keeps 
their feet firmly planted upon the earth, and by 
its great doctrine of brotherhood constrains them 
to labor unceasingly for the universal realization 
of a heavenly kingdom here. Thus it is com- 
plete, symmetrical, open to progress for the soul 
on all sides; it fulfils the deficiencies of other 
systems, — that is, fills them out ; and, being spir- 
itual, free, and vital, it is adapted to human 
nature everywhere, and therefore appears to be 
the one religion that is capable of becoming uni- 
versal. Best of all, perhaps, its beautiful and 
holy teachings were perfectly realized in the 
life and character of its Author, who said he 
came in order that men might have life in abun- 
dance, and who therefore could justly say, " I am 
the way, the truth, and the life." 

Here, then, is a clear indication — albeit only 
meagrely presented — of Christianity's true place 
among the other religions of the world. It does 
not antagonize what is good and true in them, 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 153 

but rather responds thereto by paralleling it. 
" I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil/' said 
Jesus ; and one cannot help believing that, if he 
were here to-day, he would refer in this remark 
not only to the lawgivers and prophets of Israel, 
but equally to the ethical and religious teachers 
of every land and age. His religion is the 
mighty friend and helper of all good influences 
and instrumentalities on earth, — the ally and 
promoter of law and liberty, of learning and 
love, of peace and prosperity, of individual de- 
velopment, social righteousness, and universal 
progress. And because it is thus a large, com- 
plete, and apparently perfect religion, it not only 
sympathizes in these ways with the virtues of 
others, but supplements them and so leads on to 
higher attainments. It rounds out to its own 
fulness and balance those partial apprehensions 
of divine truth which have been, for countless 
millions of God's children, foregleams of that 
ampler dispensation which, in the evolution of 
the human race, was bound to come somewhere, 
sometime, and which at length will be recog- 
nized as "the light which lighteth every man that 
cometh into the world." 



154 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Now the foregoing views reveal the basis, so 
far as it lies in the needs of the great, outlying 
religious world, for all Christian missions. That 
basis is threefold, — consisting in the prevalent 
condition of mankind, the inadequacy of the non- 
Christian religions to cope with the problem, and 
the affectionate proffer of help which Christianity 
is able to make. 

1. One does not have to picture the teeming 
millions of earth's population as trembling on the 
verge of the i( bottomless pit," in imminent peril 
of everlasting damnation, in order to appreciate 
their need of all the spiritual assistance which 
can possibly be rendered them. The degrada- 
tion and misery actually existing in this world 
constitute a sufficiently terrible perdition, for one 
who believes in the divine worth of the human 
soul, to evoke the utmost sympathy and alle- 
viating effort. If suffering or sin at our very 
doors calls for our aid, and we acknowledge our 
obligation to extend it, the obligation is funda- 
mentally and essentially as binding wherever sin 
and suffering are found ; and the deplorable fact 
is that they abound in appalling proportions 
throughout the world. Nor does it matter par- 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 155 

ticularly how they have come about. As Dr. 
Richard S. Storrs has well said, "It makes no 
difference really, or very little, at this point, 
whether we accept the Scriptural declaration 
that man has fallen from a higher estate to his 
present level, or conceive, with some modern 
theorizers, that man is just now partially emerg- 
ing from the conditions of his brute-ancestry, 
stumbling up, through sin and error and mani- 
fold tremendous mistakes, toward wisdom and 
virtue, and the blessedness which they bring. 
In either case the present condition of mankind 
is one of imperfection, weakness, unsatisfied de- 
sire, unrealized promise, and manifold peril. It 
is not the missionary who tells us this, princi- 
pally or alone. Every observant foreign trav- 
eller repeats the same." And he portrays the 
situation a little more specifically by adding, 
" We need not fix our thought, prominently, on 
the more devilish crimes which still exist in parts 
and portions of the earth, — cannibalism, infanti- 
cide, human sacrifices, self-torture, the slavery 
that would destroy body and soul together in its 
own hell. Commoner vices have told us the 
story sufficiently, — drunkenness, licentiousness, 



156 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the gambling passion, the opium habit, the fierce 
self-will that rushes to its end, regardless of any- 
thing sacred, in order to attain its pleasure. All 
these we know. How familiar they are to the 
mind, and in the life of the world at large ! " 1 
Such words afford us a hint, yet only a general 
hint, of the evils to be encountered in the wide 
fields of human society, where the kingdom of 
heaven is to be established. Whoever knows 
the facts must see the need ; whoever heeds 
them must respond to the summons. 

2. If hereupon one asks why the non- Christian 
religions are not good enough for the peoples 
who cherish them, the answer is that they are 
not adequate to meet these overwhelming de- 
mands, and furthermore that these religions 
themselves need the influence of Christianity for 
their own improvement. 

It is plain that the conditions just depicted 
will require all the intellectual, moral, and reli- 
gious forces of the whole world combined and 
working for centuries for their overcoming. 
Granting therefore that Brahmanism, Bud- 
dhism, and all the other religions are mighty fac- 

> Addresses on Foreign Missions, 1900, pp. 175, 176. 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 157 

tors, we cannot deny that they may be powerfully 
reinforced by Christianity. It is somewhat like 
saying that Roman Catholicism in any American 
city, while doing its own work in its own way 
very effectually, is not equal to the whole task 
of thoroughly Christianizing the entire commun- 
ity, but may be most profitably supplemented by 
Protestantism. The fact is that all the spiritual 
energies and agencies of every type of civilization 
are needed to lift mankind out of ignorance, 
cruelty, vice, crime, and misery ; and at best the 
problem will take ages for its full solution. 

Besides, who can doubt that, whatever the 
excellences of any other religion, the influence 
of Christianity upon them may be salutary ? It 
would seem to be well-nigh self-evident that it 
must exalt, vivify, and intensify the best spiritual 
teachings of every form of religion with which it 
may come in contact. And, as a matter of fact, 
much of the religious teaching of the world, as 
already shown, is powerless to lift its adherents 
to any higher plane of life. Therefore I say that 
perhaps the first mission of Christianity to the 
peoples of the earth is to their religions. Man 
is a being of such potential capacity as to deserve 



158 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the best possible religion. Nothing is too good 
for him — so God thought when He raised up 
Jesus Christ. The better religious teachings a 
man can have, as well as the better governments, 
schools, newspapers, and books, the better kind 
of a man he will be, in the long run. And if 
religion is one-half so powerful a factor as our 
study goes to show, how urgent becomes the 
need of the very best religion obtainable, in 
order that the world may be the more speedily 
"delivered out of the bondage of corruption 
into the glorious liberty of the children of 
God " ! Surely the mission of Christ's Gospel 
to all other religions must tend to promote 
this. 

3. Once more, the very nature of Christianity 
itself impels it to proffer itself. It is a giving 
religion. Its Founder gave himself, and he said 
to his followers : " Freely ye have received, freely 
give." It is a serving, helping, loving religion. 
It regards all men as children of a common 
Father ; therefore as brothers one of another ; 
and therefore as needing all brotherly kindness 
at the hands of their fellow-men. Accordingly 
whoever becomes really a Christian, in principle 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 159 

and spirit, will leant to give himself, as the 
Master did, in sincere and loving service to 
God's needy children. He will tuant to share 
his blessings with his brethren ; and he will 
believe very solemnly that this is "the will of 
God in Christ Jesus " concerning every Christian. 
Therefore, if he sees wretchedness and destitution, 
material or spiritual, which he can relieve, he will 
feel himself under divine command to perform 
such a service, and he will be glad to do it. 
He accepts Christ as his Master, and he desires 
to bring his own life into compliance with that 
Master's teaching. He conceives that he is 
called to do what he can to be a helper of 
Christ, a fellow-laborer with God; and there- 
fore he girds himself to toil, to sacrifice, if 
need be to suffer, in order that the will of 
God to redeem mankind from all evil may be 
fulfilled. Thus Christianity becomes, by reason 
of its spiritual nature, a missionary religion. 
Hence to repudiate the claim of missions, the 
obligation to give of one's self in loving service 
to human need, under a sense of divine sanction, 
is to repudiate the essential teaching of Jesus 
Christ. 



160 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Seeing that Christian missions are thus re- 
quired, both by the needs of the great, outlying 
world and by the very nature of Christianity, all 
secondary questions as to object, motive, method, 
and results may be left to be answered by grow- 
ing experience and wisdom. 

It is proper to remark that these subordinate 
questions have not been answered altogether 
wisely or truly in the past ; and some of us have 
been out of sympathy with much of the zealous 
missionary work of the nineteenth century be- 
cause of its narrow conception of Divine Provi- 
dence and its erroneous interpretation of divine 
truth. We have not responded to the appeal to 
send out missionaries to snatch men from the 
brink of a bottomless pit which to us was 
purely imaginary ; and we have scarcely felt a 
genuine interest in exporting to foreign lands a 
type of theology which we believed ought never 
to have existed here. 

But all such criticisms sink into insignifi- 
cance before the larger meanings of this mighty 
missionary movement of modern times. It was 
better to have made a poor beginning than to 
have made none at all. It was simply impos- 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 161 

sible that a growing knowledge of the vast non- 
Christian world could come to men, and they 
continue forever indifferent to the spiritual con- 
dition of its myriad millions. Even the iron 
dogma of divine sovereignty, that bulwark of 
Calvinism, had to go down some time before the 
inrushing tides of human interest from the ocean 
of so-called heathenism. The nations of the 
eartli were bound to become known to our 
Western Christendom, and, becoming known, 
were bound to engage the attention of Christian 
hearts. Doing so, those hearts could give only 
what they had to give, — their pity, their sym- 
pathy, their love, their helping hand, their con- 
ceptions of God's truth and providence. What 
matter if these were very imperfect, very unsatis- 
factory, as measured by to-day's ideals? They 
were the best the Christians of Europe and 
America had to give ; and whoever gives of his 
best to help humanity soon has more and better 
to give. Thus it has been here ; and so there 
has grown up a far purer type of Christianity to 
send abroad, — a truer theology, a larger sympa- 
thy, a nobler object to seek than the salvation of 

men from a future endless hell, a holier, more 

ii 



162 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Christ-like motive than proselytism and ecclesias- 
tical glory ; until now it may be said, in all serious- 
ness, that the present work of Protestant foreign 
missions is a great, grand phase of the Christian 
education of the world. It is part and parcel — 
the spiritual part and parcel — of the vast expan- 
sion which has taken place during the last five 
hundred years, mentioned at the opening of this 
chapter. As such it has but fairly commenced. 
It will go on. It will spread. It will gather 
momentum. It will not rest until the kingdoms 
of this world are become the Kingdom of our 
Lord and of His Christ. 

Is it said that this is a costly work, or that it 
is really an impertinence to thrust our religion 
upon foreign peoples, and that the best thing for 
us to do is to stay at home and mind our own 
business, of which we have about all we can 
handle? My answer to all such objections is 
simply a comprehensive plea for the free circula- 
tion of ideas in this world. Just as the waters of 
the ocean are kept pure by currents, and trade- 
winds, and storms, - — driving, tossing, tumbling, 
mixing them all round the globe ; so is the ocean 
of human life kept pure, or in process of healthy 



Christianity and Christian Missions. 163 

development, by the mingling and mixture of 
races and all spiritual influences. Therefore I 
believe in freedom of thought, freedom of speech, 
freedom of travel, freedom of trade, and freedom 
of religious teaching — always with due regard 
to the rights and liberties of people who differ. 
Hence I believe in Christian missions to foreign 
lands; only they must subsist in love, not by force, 
— in the love of truth, the love of right, the love 
of man, the love of God. So subsisting, they 
will help to bring the Kingdom of God to pass 
as a glorious reality in all the earth. 

The missionary work of modern Christendom 
is a gigantic enterprise. It contemplates noth- 
ing less than the ultimate, complete evangeliza- 
tion of the world. Even as it is conducted at 
present it is one of the largest undertakings ever 
inaugurated. In order that it may go forward 
with growing power and efficiency, three things at 
least are absolutely indispensable, namely : that it 
shall rest upon an adequate basis ; that it shall 
be inspired by a permanently legitimate motive ; 
and that it shall continually educate its constitu- 
ents to a comprehension of its true meaning, 



164 The Spiritual Outlook. 

so that they shall feel their responsibility and do 
their duty. As a thoughtful man reviews the 
history of the movement and the existing 
situation, he is encouraged to believe that the 
followers of Jesus Christ will increasingly appre- 
ciate his parting injunction, — " Go ye into all 
the world, and preach the gospel to every 
creature." 



THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF 
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 




THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF 
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 

|N studying the spiritual conditions, 
forces, and tendencies of our age, 
some serious thought must be given 
to the subject of this chapter. Remembering 
that the theme of these pages is religion, con- 
sidered in a broad sense, as a living reality, as 
a spiritual power manifesting itself in various 
outward forms ; and remembering that their 
dominant purpose is to interpret as truly and 
justly as possible the workings of this great 
power in our present civilization, it becomes 
apparent that Christian Science deserves our 
attention because of its religious implications. 
For it is professedly, if not primarily, a religious 
movement ; and in my judgment it is the religious 
aspects of its influence that need most urgently 
to be understood. I think the other side of it, 
the question of its healing ministry, should be 
approached from this religious side; and I am 



168 The Spiritual Outlook. 

strongly persuaded that a clear and correct un- 
derstanding of the part played in it by the 
religious element will answer more than half of 
our questions about the problem of its curative 
agency. Therefore I am mainly concerned with 
the whole phenomenal development as a phase 
of religious evolution. It is chiefly in this char- 
acter that it appeals to me as a student of Chris- 
tian history; and it is because I do not feel 
entirely satisfied with the accounts of its origin 
and growth given by either its friends or its ene- 
mies that I am led to offer my own explanation. 
It should surprise no one that the popular 
interest in this new cult is enlisted mainly by its 
offices of healing. Sickness and suffering, and 
restoration to health and happiness, whenever 
occurring, are very palpable facts, — to the ma- 
jority of people indeed they seem far more real 
than do fine and high spiritual experiences. 
Doubtless most of those who have been drawn 
to Christian Science in the past have come to 
it through the avenue of physical benefits, con- 
ferred upon themselves or upon their acquaint- 
ances ; and it is probable that such will be the 
case in the future. Let us not forget that pre- 



Significance of Christian Science. . 169 

cisely similar was the commencement of Christi- 
anity. Men and women were attracted to Jesus 
by his works of healing ; likewise to the Apostles ; 
and who shall say to what extent the practical 
services of the Christian Church, during all the 
centuries, in the alleviation of human misery, 
whether by the exercise of supposedly miraculous 
powers, or by alms-giving, or by manifold insti- 
tutions of philanthropy, or by the agencies of 
education and reform, have won the respect of 
mankind for the gospel, and thus have led 
directly to the acceptance of its spiritual teach- 
ings ? Are we not all the time appealing to the 
long and splendid record of just such services as 
a proof of the beneficence, and therefore the 
truthfulness, of Christianity ? and do we not ask 
people to support our churches partly because 
they minister to the actual needs of men in 
body as well as in soul ? In the work of for- 
eign missions to-day a large use is made of phy- 
sicians, nurses, and secular teachers. Why? 
Not simply because such helpers can do the 
people great good, although this consideration 
should be sufficient in itself to warrant their 
employment; but also because they open the 



170 The Spiritual Outlook. 

way for the religious teacher, who, when he 
gains access to the minds and hearts of the 
natives, bestows upon them the higher blessings 
of the spirit. But in all this nobody is deceived. 
In none of these instances — with Jesus, or the 
Apostles, or the great Christian leaders of the 
past, or the true teachers and wise workers of 
the present — has there been any thought of 
making the physical benefits of Christianity's 
ministry superior to the spiritual. On the con- 
trary, wherever the true nature of the gospel has 
been understood, its cleansing spiritual power, 
its service to the soul, has been held to constitute 
its principal value ; and all other good results 
flowing from its influence, in material ways, have 
been regarded as distinctly subordinate. It will 
be so in the long run — I think it should be so 
now — with Christian Science. Its chief im- 
portance will lie in its spiritual ministry ; and its 
works of healing will or should be incidental to 
its service in behalf of vital religious interests. 

I. In estimating for myself and for those of 
my readers who care to follow me here the re- 
ligious nature and bearing of Christian Science, 
I begin with two or three preliminary remarks. 



Significance of Christian Science. 171 

1. I frankly acknowledge that I do not claim 
to have made an exhaustive study of this sub- 
ject ; indeed, I suppose, if we are to accept the 
utterances of those most interested and best 
qualified to judge, it never can be exhausted. 
But the matter has come to my notice in many 
ways during the last ten or twelve years, — 
partly through conversations with a considerable 
number of dear friends who have been converted 
to the new teachings, and have seemed quite 
competent to tell me about them ; and partly 
through reading no small amount of literature 
on the subject, including expositions by such 
authoritative writers and speakers as Editor Sep- 
timus J. Hanna, Judge W. G. Ewing, Prof, 
Theodore F. Seward, Rev. Arthur R. Vosburg, 
and especially the founder of the system, Mrs. 
Mary Baker G. Eddy, besides numerous criti- 
cisms, both mild and severe — mostly severe — 
from opponents. I trust, therefore, that I am 
not wholly ignorant of the real character and 
purport of Christian Science ; and I desire par- 
ticularly to state that I speak for no one but 
myself, except where I quote and give credit. 
2. In my thought upon the subject I have 



172 The Spiritual Outlook. 

tried to keep myself from prejudice, the bane 
of so much discussion of religious or semi- 
religious questions. I have no sympathy with 
ridicule, sarcasm, and sneers, in place of intelli- 
gence and candor, in treating any sacred and 
vital interest ; nor do I attach any real value to 
traditionalism on the one hand, or to novelty 
and " fadism " on the other hand. As thinking 
people, our supreme business is to seek the 
truth ; and neither former views nor the security 
of existing institutions should blind us to new 
light. If many persons of noble character are 
leaving our churches and going into Christian 
Science churches, it behooves us to ask ourselves 
the reason why. Scolding will do no good, 
calling hard names is undignified, and misrepre- 
sentation is always fraught with dire mischief. 
Rather should it be our aim, while judging as 
critically as possible respecting every question 
involved, to be fair-minded and open-minded; 
and, above all, should we endeavor to rise to an 
altitude from which we may view the whole 
subject in a large way as having some legitimate 
place in the general spiritual movement of our 
age. 



Significance of Christian Science. 173 

3. I think it somewhat unfortunate that the 
term " Christian Science " has been adopted to 
designate this new development. The late Pro- 
fessor David Swing said that the only trouble with 
it was that it was neither Christian nor scientific ; 
but my own opinion is that there is a very large 
Christian element in it, but very little science, 
and that it is the Christianity in it which carries 
its claims to be scientific. The word science has 
come to have a strict signification, and to every 
true scholar it is about as sacred as any word in 
the language. It denotes exact, classified, veri- 
fied knowledge, — a body of learning that has 
been slowly, carefully, almost painfully built up, 
by a host of intellectual toilers, through patient 
observation, clear inference, and thorough tests ; 
and its established positions become the common 
property of all students who seek by the same 
reliable processes to enlarge still further the 
boundaries of real knowledge. And I think 
Professor Joseph Jastrow is quite right in insist- 
ing that " the possibility of science rests on the 
thorough and absolute distinction between the 
subjective and the objective. In what measure 
a man loses the power to draw this distinction 



174 The Spiritual Outlook. 

clearly, and as other men do, in that measure he 
becomes irrational or insane. The objective ex- 
ists; and no amount of thinking it away or think- 
ing it differently will change it. That is what is 
understood by ultimate scientific truth; some- 
thing that will endure unmodified by passing 
ways of viewing it, open to every one's verifica- 
tion who comes with the proper means to verify, 
— a permanent objective, to be ascertained by 
careful, logical inquiry, not to be determined by 
subjective opinion." * Therefore it does not seem 
entirely proper to use this precisely significant 
word to cover a group of personal experiences, 
intuitive perceptions, and religious influences, 
pertaining to the spiritual realm, which are 
more legitimately dealt with by philosophy. 

Yet fairness requires us to recognize the fact 
that there is an accommodated sense in which 
the word science, like the word evolution, or 
many another term of large scope, is continually 
employed. Years ago Rev. Minot J. Savage 
published a fresh, stimulating little book entitled 
"Christianity the Science of Manhood." That 
was an accommodated use of the word science. 

1 Fact and Fable in Psychology, p. 33. 



Significance of Christian Science. 175 

In such a sense the term is allowable to com- 
prise the teachings and methods of the system 
which is here under consideration. Perhaps, 
however, if Mrs. Eddy had been a trained 
scholar, accustomed to the exact and discrimi- 
nating choice of words which rules as an un- 
written law in the realm of scholarship, or if she 
had been less mystical in the cast of her mind, 
she might have avoided much of that peculiar 
terminology which has undoubtedly occasioned 
many of the misunderstandings and criticisms 
that her teachings have provoked. But then 
she might not have given the world the vivid 
apprehension of certain truths which it now 
owes largely to her, and for which, I am per- 
suaded, it will be increasingly grateful ! 

II. Coming now to state my own theory of 
the rise and growth of the Christian Science 
movement, I start with the general remark that 
there are two sides to it, which, although they 
are conjoined in practice, need to be sharply dis- 
tinguished in thought, — the psychological side 
and the religious side. Leaving the former, at 
present, to the professional psychologists, who, 
like Professor Hugo Mlinsterberg of Harvard 



176 The Spiritual Outlook. 

University, and Professor Joseph Jastrow of the 
University of Wisconsin, assign it a place in 
modern mysticism or occultism, along with The- 
osophy, Spiritualism, Mesmerism, Hypnotism, 
Astrology, Phrenology, etc., much to the disgust 
of the friends of these respective systems ; and 
without undertaking to pronounce any opinion 
upon the merits of such an assignment, or upon 
the conflicting claims of these rival interpretations, 
I want to confine myself just now to a glance at 
the latter, the religious, aspect of the develop- 
ment in the light of Christian history ; and then 
I want to point out the vital spiritual contents 
of this new teaching, which give it its chief 
beauty and power. 

1. Taking, then, a long retrospect, let us 
remember that Jesus of Nazareth inculcated a 
most exalted yet simple and natural gospel of 
divine truth and spiritual living. It was full of 
heavenly wisdom and sweet grace, of light and 
love, of peace and joy. A child could under- 
stand its central principle, and a philosopher 
could not get beyond its practical bearing. It 
unveiled the face of God, showing Him to be a 
dear Father; and it disclosed the inherent dig- 



Significance of Christian Science. 177 

nity and worth of the human soul as nothing 
else had ever done. It opened the fountains of 
sympathy and all forms of beneficence in so- 
ciety; it made righteousness a living reality; it 
awakened in man a consciousness of his divine 
sonship ; and it brought a new vision of purity, 
holiness, and happiness to a world that was 
weary of its religious formalities and its spir- 
itual dearth, as well as of its sorrows and 
its sins. Even to-day the words of this 
heavenly teaching are like a stream in the 
desert to our thirsty souls, and no other mes- 
sage has such power to bring us to our deeper 
selves or put us so surely into harmony with the 
infinite Spirit. 

Let us remember, too, that Jesus exemplified 
this blessed teaching in his own life and charac- 
ter. He was meek and lowly in heart, majestic, 
serene, magnanimous, gentle. Yet he was strong, 
fearless, invincible, a hater of shams, a lover of 
all goodness. He had insight to detect every 
error, appreciation for every evidence of virtue 
and love, and an exaltation of spirit that made 
him walk in constant and reverent communion 

with God. He was faithful unto death, vic- 

12 



178 The Spiritual Outlook. 

torious over evil, and a sufferer who could for- 
give even his murderers. 

Let us remember, once more, that he went 
about doing good ; that he used the high powers 
he possessed to help his fellow-men; that his 
boundless compassion led him to give himself 
in loving service to every form of human need 
that he encountered. The simple record of 
the Narrative is that "he went round about 
through all their villages and cities, teaching 
in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel 
of the kingdom, and healing all manner of 
sickness and all manner of disease among the 
people." I do not know how he performed 
these works of healing ; I have my thoughts 
on the subject; doubtless my readers have 
theirs. It seems probable to me that some 
of the alleged acts of this character did not 
occur at all; but it seems unquestionable that 
others did occur, and that he was endowed 
somehow with unusual gifts for such a physical 
ministry. 

And so we have this clear, threefold picture 
of a sublime Teaching, a serene Teacher, and a 
gentle Healer, bringing spiritual blessings and 



Significance of Christian Science. 170 

some relief from bodily ills to the children of 
men nineteen hundred years ago. 

2. Consider, now, how sadly albeit inevitably 
this simple historical picture, with its vital mean- 
ings, has been distorted during the interven- 
ing centuries. The Master's contemporaries did 
not understand him ; they were too much occu- 
pied with their own preconceptions to listen 
to him without bias; and they were so ab- 
sorbed in visions and dreams of coming glory 
that they overlooked the simplicity of his in- 
struction. St. Paul and the men who followed 
him philosophized about it ; and a little later the 
influence of Greek speculative thought gave such 
an intellectual twist to it as to fix its formulas 
so that they have endured from the third century 
to the twentieth. Upon that philosophical basis 
the Roman Catholic Church, inheriting the genius 
of Roman statecraft, and inspired with a new 
ambition for a new and stupendous mission, 
built up its mighty ecclesiastical fabric. Then 
followed the domination of the Scholastic the- 
ology of the Middle Age ; then came the Protes- 
tant revolt, with its new birth of liberty and 
spiritual religion ; but then the old influences 



180 The Spiritual Outlook. 

reasserted themselves, and there succeeded an 
era of Protestant Scholasticism ; and not until 
within the last fifty years has our Western 
Christendom begun to free itself very largely 
from those artificial conditions which were thus 
imposed upon it in the remote and turbulent 
past. 

What has been the result of all this ? Why, 
we have had a philosophical Christianity, an 
ecclesiastical Christianity, and a dogmatic Chris- 
tianity, overloaded with the intellectual element, 
in place of the simple, vital, spiritual Christianity 
of Jesus Christ, — warm, human, tender, loving, 
and full of the Divine Spirit. Traditional Chris- 
tianity has been largely a far-off, unreal, mys- 
terious thing, which has kept up a show of 
supernaturalism by magnifying the miraculous; 
and, oh, the pity of it all has been that, while it 
has professed to bring men near to God, it has 
really stood between them and Him ! I am not 
surprised that so many people have held aloof 
from the Christian Church ; I am rather surprised 
that so many have endured its wretched per- 
versions of the gospel ; and I am very sure that 
the sweet water of Christ's own words and spirit 



Significance of Christian Science. 181 

has been the chief refreshment of our race 
through all this long wilderness. 

3. But now we must note that we have 
come to a time when, through the liberalizing 
influences of modern civilization, these old bonds 
are loosening their hold and these old interposi- 
tions are being thrust aside. The dogmatic in- 
terest has declined, the controversies of a hun- 
dred years ago are worn out, and heart-hungry 
souls are seeking a more simple, spiritual appre- 
ciation of the life-giving teachings of the Son of 
Man. They are weary of strife, weary of run- 
ning ecclesiastical machinery, weary of religious 
forms that have neither spontaneity nor joy be- 
cause they have no vitality. I fear we do not 
realize to what an extent we let our religious 
expression take on a sombre hue, and how much 
we dwell on the sad side of life. Certain I am 
that what people really want, whether they know 
it or not, is a religion of life, strength, beauty, 
and gladness, — a religion of real faith, hope, and 
love, ■ — a religion of sweet and genuine love to 
God and man. If they do not find this in our 
Christian churches, where of all places on earth 
they ought to expect it, they will seek it else- 



182 The Spiritual Outlook. 

where; and if they think they find it in other 
circles of thought, even though it be mixed with 
some error, they will gravitate thereto. 

4. Now reflect that Christian Science meets 
this situation with a version of Christianity which, 
say what you will of its uncritical character, 
is instinct with life. It is fresh, unconven- 
tional, spontaneous ; it lays aside the old theo- 
logical terminology and the old ceremonies, 
creating new ones to take their places ; it has a 
vivid grasp of spiritual truth, however bent in 
its hands you may think it ; and it seems to suc- 
ceed in bringing the great gospel of Jesus Christ 
down into the actualities of life, to become the 
reigning power of holy love in the souls and 
bodies of men, as no other interpretation appears 
to do. In an age when the materialistic influ- 
ence of scientific discovery has been widely felt, 
and when the churches that grew out of theologi- 
cal disagreements are at the end of their dog- 
matic career, it is not strange that large numbers 
of thoughtful, earnest, spiritually minded people 
should find relief and positive inspiration in a 
phase of Christian teaching that is thus free and 
vital. 



Significance of Christian Science. 183 

Perhaps the justice of this last remark will be 
plainer, and we shall see the logical culmination 
of the foregoing review, if we look at the essen- 
tial contents of the Christian Science system. 
Using my own words to state them, I should 
say that they are as follows : — 

(1) The doctrine of the Divine immanence. 
By this is meant the truth that God dwells, not 
outside of the universe, but within it ; and there- 
fore dwells, not only outside of human life, but 
within it. The omnipresence and the imma- 
nence of God may be said to mean what Mr. 
John Fiske implies in saying that "the infinite 
and eternal Power that is manifested in every 
pulsation of the universe is none other than the 
living God," and that " the everlasting source of 
phenomena is none other than the infinite Power 
that makes for righteousness." 1 The Christian 
Scientist says that God is all. What this really 
means is that God is the Soul of the universe, its 
all-pervading Life ; and this corresponds exactly 
to the position of philosophical idealism, that the 
universe in the last analysis is spiritual. If such 
is the idea which the Christian Scientist intends 

* The Idea of God, pp. 166, 167. 



184 The Spiritual Outlook. 

to convey, — and in all fairness it appears to me 
to be plainly so, 1 — there is nothing new in it 
whatever; and it might seem better to express 
it in customary terms. But the truth of the 
Divine immanence is a very important one, and 
has come to occupy a large place in progres- 
sive theology at present, — quite independ- 
ently, however, of the influence of Christian 
Science. 

(2) The doctrine of a higher and a lower na- 
ture in man, — divine mind and mortal mind, as 
it is called. This is quite similar to St. Paul's 
theory that human nature, prior to Christ, was 
twofold, that is, physical and psychical ; but after 

1 Since writing this paragraph I have read much pro and 
con respecting the point here considered, including Mrs. 
Eddy's Message of June 23, 1901 ; but I see no reason for 
changing a single word in the above statement. I think any- 
proper construction of Mrs. Eddy's language, allowing duly 
for peculiarities of expression, must yield substantially the 
interpretation which I have presented. She is no more at sea 
in trying to tell what God is than are all the rest of us ; and 
it may be pertinent to remember this additional word of Mr. 
Fiske's: " We may exhaust the resources of metaphysics in 
debating how far his [God's] nature may fitly be expressed in 
terms applicable to the psychical nature of Man ; such vain 
attempts will only serve to show how we are dealing with a 
theme that must ever transcend our finite powers of concep- 
tion."— Ibid, p. 166. 



Significance of Christian Science. 185 

Christ, became threefold, that is, physical, psychi- 
cal, and pneumatical or spiritual. You remember 
his remark, "The natural [psychical] man re- 
ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for 
they are foolishness to him : neither can he know 
them ; for they are spiritually discerned/' 1 His 
meaning is perfectly plain when we understand 
that he believed that man, untouched by Christ, 
was merely an animal and a soul, that is, an in- 
telligent or rational creature; but that, when 
quickened by the Spirit of Jesus, he became " a 
new man," a spiritual being. Hence he says that 
"the first man Adam was made a living soul," 
that is, a psychical being; "the last Adam a 
life-giving spirit." 2 Hence also Paul has a 
great deal to say about the office of the Spirit, 
the life of the Spirit, the mind of the Spirit, 
the fruit of the Spirit. Christian Science, 
therefore, is not giving us anything really 
new in this doctrine of " mortal mind " and 
" divine mind." I suppose at bottom it means 
what you and I mean when we talk about 
our lower nature and our higher nature, — 
the difference between our unspiritual life 

1 1 Cor. ii. 14 et sea. 2 1 Cor. xv. 45. 



186 The Spiritual Outlook, 

and the life that is vivified with the breath of 
God; and, oh, we do not know one half so 
much about this latter, diviner life as we might 
and should. The real mission of Christianity is 
to awaken us to this better, truer, more blessed 
life; such is the grand object of Christian 
Science; and such an awakenment, when ac- 
complished, is salvation indeed. 

(3) The doctrine that God is love, and that 
love is all-powerful. This appears to be the 
central idea or principle or truth in Christian 
Science. Surely it is as old as the gospel of 
Jesus and the literature of the New Testament. 
The First Epistle of John tells us that " God is 
love/' and " he that loveth is born of God and 
knoweth God ; " and also that, " if we love one 
another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is per- 
fected in us." Wherein does Christian Science 
differ from all other forms of Christianity in 
setting forth this teaching, unless it be in im- 
plicitly and absolutely accepting it ? The trouble 
with many of us is that we only half believe ; we 
do not really give ourselves up to the full logic 
and force of our conceptions and theories; we 
satisfy ourselves with the mere perception of 



Significance of Christian Science. 187 

truth, and cheat ourselves with words; we do 
not realize our ideals and doctrines in action and 
character. If we were to do so, we should 
quickly see what Jesus meant in summing up 
his gospel as love to God and love to man. 
Alas ! the world has practised so largely and so 
long the principle of selfishness, in private con- 
duct, in business, in civil affairs, and in military 
strife, that it has not yet fairly begun to compre- 
hend the scope or the potency of the heavenly 
teaching of Jesus Christ involving the absolute 
supremacy of the holy spirit of divine love. 
Thankful should we be for any agency that may 
promote the influence of this most vital of all 
conceptions ! 

(4) Christian Science goes a step further, and 
asserts the health-giving or saving power of this 
holy love. It declares that, if a man will but 
yield himself up to the Divine Spirit, letting 
the tides of its life-giving influence flow through 
his being, it will cleanse him in soul and body. 
Without disputing, for the moment, about the 
extent to which this thought may be carried, I 
am sure we must acknowledge that it is a vital 
and profound truth. " The Spirit also helpeth 



188 The Spiritual Outlook. 

our infirmities," * said St. Paul. Spirituality gives 
health to the soul, and through the soul it must 
benefit the body. Who that has ever tried it 
does not know this ? Whatever helps us to live 
upon a higher plane, whatever puts us into har- 
mony with the laws of the universe and the laws 
of our own being, conduces to wholeness ; and 
wholeness is only another name for holiness. 
Love is life, and life is health, aud health is joy 
and peace. I am sure that this is good Christian 
doctrine, and that it is a great, inspiring, sorely 
needed message for sinning and suffering mortals. 
What else is the spiritual burden of Chris- 
tianity ? and what but this, accepted, believed, 
obeyed, will ever redeem mankind from the 
thraldom of evil ? Let it have the fullest possible 
scope ! 

(5) Finally, Christian Science teaches that 
all this truth was realized in the character and 
work of Jesus ; who knew that the spiritual uni- 
verse is subject to law, even as is the material ; 
who lived in constant and beautiful harmony 
with such spiritual law by living in the power 
of holy love; and who therefore was full of 

1 Rom. viii. 26. 



Significance of Christian Science. 189 

spiritual vitality, because he was possessed and 
used of God. Consequently he was able to help 
men in both spiritual and physical ways ; but his 
power in this respect was simply the power of 
God operating through him, — as he himself said, 
" The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the 
works." And now it is merely added that any 
person who will live in such harmony with God, 
surrendering himself in body and soul to the 
power of Divine Love, may likewise help and 
heal his fellow-men. Thus we may be imitators 
of Christ, laborers together with God, and bene- 
factors of our kind in the highest possible ways. 

Now, if this account of the essential teachings 
of Christian Science is approximately correct, — - 
and, as nearly as I can make out, it is substan- 
tially true and accurate, although perhaps in- 
complete, — then I do not see where there is 
anything very bad about it, or wherein it differs 
much from any spiritual interpretation of the 
gospel. Thus far, viewing it strictly in its re- 
ligious aspects, it appears to be merely a peculiar 
type of Christianity, — fully as Christian in spirit, 
thought, and influence as many another type 



190 The Spiritual Outlook. 

which has occupied the field of history. As such 
it must do far more good thau harm, and its 
reaction upon the established churches must 
tend to vitalize and spiritualize their teaching 
and work. 

Of course the great truths just set forth are 
largely colored for Christian Scientists by their 
relation to physical healing and by various minor 
views of nature and human nature that are some- 
what peculiar. They were originally apprehended 
and wrought out by the founder of this system 
through her own remarkable experiences and 
achievements in such a relation ; and undoubt- 
edly her statement of them and of associated 
ideas bears the marks of those limitations which 
any individual mind must possess. Perhaps no 
small amount of error, even from the religious 
standpoint, may be detected in the customary 
exposition of the system. For one thing, I think 
the treatment of the Scriptures usually shows a 
sad lack of acquaintance with the ruling con- 
ceptions of modern Biblical scholarship, so that 
many of its interpretations and applications are 
invalid ; and, for another thing, I question 
whether it gives an adequate account of the 



Significance of Christian Science. 191 

genesis of sin, or makes a sufficient use of the 
great Scriptural doctrine of righteousness. But 
such errors and defects, though they may be 
numerous and in themselves serious enough, 
and though they be coupled with some notions 
that seem to other people absurd, cannot nullify 
the fundamental spiritual truths which form the 
main doctrines, the dominant principles, of Chris- 
tian Science. It is the force and bearing of these 
by which chiefly it should be judged. So judg- 
ing it, I contend that it is entitled to be recog- 
nized as a noble and helpful type of Christian 
thought, worship, and work ; and I repeat that 
we shall be likely to do it gross injustice if we 
fail to approach it and appreciate it in its re- 
ligious aspect, first of all. 

Passing now to the other, the psychological, 
side of Christian Science, to consider its ministry 
of healing, I have not much to say ; and yet a 
word or two is required by what I have already 
said. It seems to me that here the professional 
psychologist is able largely to solve the problem 
by showing the nature and laws of suggestion to 
be of much wider scope than most of us are 



192 The Spiritual Outlook. 

aware, — only we must not forget to conjoin 
with this power the wonderful religious influ- 
ence which I have depicted. You can see that 
when such a vital, spiritual, earnest faith and 
surrender toward God shall bring a willing, 
passive soul into harmony with the laws of the 
spiritual realm, the conditions are ripe for the 
force of suggestion to produce surprising results. 
How far it may go, I do not presume even 
to guess. All I see is that the conjunctive 
operation of a vital spiritual influence and the 
marvellous power of suggestion and thought, in 
a recipient field, may reasonably account for 
stranger healing effects than are usually sup- 
posed to be possible. 

Beyond this general remark I do not care to 
pursue the discussion, — partly because this 
phase of the subject has been and will be abun- 
dantly considered by others, and the truth will 
slowly but surely come out ; and partly also 
because I do not feel competent to express any- 
thing like a conclusive opinion, even for myself. 
I have had no personal experience with Christian 
Science as a method of healing, and perhaps I 
should say that my attitude toward it in this 



Significance of Christian Science. 193 



guise has usually inclined to be unfavorable. 
But for this very reason I feel all the more that I 
ought to hold my judgment in abeyance until I 
know more about this aspect of the case than 
I do now. I am willing to wait for light, and 
I want to be open-minded enough to receive 
whatever truth may come from whatsoever 
source. We do not know it all yet. 

And now, in conclusion, it may not be out of 
place to offer a few words of kindly caution and 
counsel for the benefit of all concerned. 

1. I think Christian Scientists should " go 
slow " in attempting to treat such malignant 
diseases as diphtheria, scarlet fever, smallpox, 
etc., where the life of the patient and the lives 
of others are in extreme danger. I think they 
can afford to be very careful here ; and certainly 
the interests of society are such as to justify the 
most stringent regulations respecting so radically 
different a method of treatment as Christian 
Science employs. The learning of the centuries 
is not all amiss ; medical science is as valid as 
any other science of our age ; and mankind is so 
vastly indebted to it that it cannot be reasonably 

13 



194 The Spiritual Outlook. 

asked to throw its teachings and services to 
the winds. Let Christian Scientists give society 
and every patient who is in imminent danger 
the benefit of the doubt. They can afford to 
wait. 

2. I think Christian Scientists should beware 
of the prostituting principle of gain. The ele- 
ment of money necessarily enters into this new 
system very largely. But history, from the days 
of Simon Magus to those of modern Spiritualism, 
shows that the very nature of all occult phe- 
nomena pertaining to the border-land of soul 
and body opens up great possibilities of self- 
deception, the deception of others, charlatanry, 
and fraud. The opportunities for pecuniary 
profit offer a subtle but potent temptation to 
those who enter this realm. Heaveji keep the 
Christian Scientists from prostituting their holy 
cause to selfish and base ends ! Heaven help 
them to hold themselves to the high plane of 
pure spiritual devotion to which, I believe, it is 
their dominant desire to lift the world! 

3. Finally, both Christian Scientists and their 
opponents should profit by criticism and further 
developments. No system of teaching or healing 



Significance of Christian Science. 195 

was ever struck out that was perfect and final 
at once. Evolution has reigned everywhere and 
always, whether men have known it or not. 
There is yet more truth to break forth from the 
great Book of Nature, which is the Book of 
God. The mind of man is expanding and tak- 
ing in more and more of the meaning of the uni- 
verse. We shall all have to revise somewhat our 
previous interpretations, and keep on revising 
them forever. Let us be willing to learn, glad 
to learn, anxious to learn. Therefore let us be 
patient with one another, hear what all earnest 
souls have to say, and wait till we shall know 
even as also we are known. 

Special Note. — After giving the above estimate, in which 
I have conscientiously sought to do justice to the favorable 
features of Christian Science, it is due to my readers as well as 
to myself that I should add an explicit statement of the reasons 
why I cannot entirely acquiesce in this interesting system of 
teaching. While I am perfectly sincere in the appreciation 
which I have expressed, I cannot allow myself to be called a 
Christian Scientist for the following reasons : — 

1. I am a thorough believer in the great doctrine of Evolu- 
tion, as accepted and expounded by the majority (I suppose) 
of modern physical scientists, and which is profoundly Theistic 
and spiritual as interpreted by writers like John Fiske and 
John Bascom ; but Christian Science practically ignores, if it 
does not deny, this doctrine. I have looked almost in vain, 
in such writings of Christian Scientists as have fallen under 



196 The Spiritual Outlook. 

my eye, including Mrs. Eddy's two principal volumes, 
for a recognition of this stupendous, reconstructive theory of 
modern times ; and the very few allusions to it which T have 
found have distinctly disparaged it. A request for an authori- 
tative statement touching the matter brings from headquarters 
a courteous, kindly response, but no information that essen- 
tially modifies this criticism. 

2. I am likewise a thorough believer in the general view of 
the Bible yielded by modern Biblical Criticism ; and this, also, 
is practically ignored, if not denied and opposed, by Christian 
Science. Mrs. Eddy shows very little knowledge of it, and 
the expositions of Scripture put forth by those of her followers 
whose writings I have read take almost no note of the flood of 
light which this noble department of modern scholarship has 
thrown upon the pages of Holy Writ. 

3. Christian Scientists appear to accept Mrs. Eddy, virtu- 
ally, as an infallible interpreter of the Bible ; and I am unable 
to do this because her interpretations are frequently and pal- 
pably erroneous, in my humble opinion. She makes an ex- 
cessively personal use of the Scriptures, and finds recondite, 
spiritual meanings in words and passages which in reality have 
nothing of the kind. For a single example or two, see the 
significations given to the words "Euphrates" and "Eve" in 
the Glossary of "Science and Health with Key to the Scrip- 
tures," showing her purely arbitrary manner of reading what- 
ever ideas she chooses into a Biblical term, — a method of 
interpretation that renders it easy for any man to make the 
Bible teach anything he pleases. 

4. Finally, I am a lover of clear, sound, logical thought ; 
and while I recognize a certain value in mysticism, I am never 
ready to plunge into a fog-bank of vague, dreamy, invalid 
speculation ; and Christian Science seems to me to have this 
fault in a large degree. Rationalism must keep company with 
mysticism, or we shall utterly lose our way in the trackless 
deep of inquiry and aspiration. 

The last remark might properly lead to a consideration of the 



Significance of Christian Science. 197 

fact that Christian Science is but a single phase of a wide- 
spread movement of thought and feeling that may be called the 
new mysticism, arising from many sources and assuming various 
forms. But I am not disposed to enter upon a discussion of 
this point. It will doubtless receive its full meed of attention 
from more competent writers. 

w. c. s. 



THE INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALISM 
AND UNITARIANISM. 




THE INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALISM 
AND UNITARIANISM. 

survey of the significant religious 
developments of our time would be 
complete without a glance, both re- 
trospective and prospective, at the work of 
Universalism and Unitarianism. Although the 
two organic bodies representing these phases 
of thought are among the smallest of extant 
Christian communions, the influence of the truth 
which they have taught has been very extensive. 
It lies imbedded in the spiritual history of the 
nineteenth century like a jewel in a mass of 
quartz, or runs through the varied manifestations 
of its inner life like a beautiful love-story through 
a work of fiction. Any intelligent reading of 
this volume of human experience must include 
a just appreciation of those aspirations toward 
a sweeter and more rational interpretation of 
Christianity which have expressed themselves, 
however inadequately, in these sister households 



202 The Spiritual Outlook. 

of faith. If we really want to understand the 
great spiritual movement of our age, as related 
to the long past out of which it has issued and 
to the glorious future into which it leads, we 
cannot allow ourselves, from prejudice or in- 
difference, to overlook an aspect of thought and 
feeling that reveals some of those deeper work- 
ings of the Spirit of Truth which betoken the 
sure though silent progress of civilization. 

If it be asked why Universalism and Uni- 
tarianism should be considered together, the 
answer must be, Because they are closely allied 
in their history, their ruling ideas, the effects 
they have produced, and their present tendencies. 
This fact has not always been recognized, and 
indeed the alleged correspondence is questioned, 
if not plainly denied, by a few persons, even 
among those intimately concerned, to-day. But 
I have given much attention to the matter, seek- 
ing to be intelligent and just in my judgment; 
and I am sure of my ground in claiming that, 
substantially and essentially, these two denomi- 
national movements have as much in common 
as any other two that can be pointed out in 
modern Christendom. Similar antecedents lie 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 203 

behind them in the distant past ; they arose out 
of the same general conditions prevailing in 
England and America in the eighteenth century ; 
and while there are slight differences, there are 
large and fundamental agreements between their 
main teachings at present. From the beginning 
both have constituted a protest, half unwitting 
sometimes, perhaps, but none the less earnest, 
against that great system of doctrine which is 
known in history as the Latin Theology, es- 
pecially in its aggravated form of Calvinism, — 
rigorous in its logic, relentless in its terrors, and 
all but absolute in its dominion in early American 
life. They have repudiated the dogmatic results 
of Greek speculative thought lying far behind 
that theology, the grand but gross assumption 
of complete human depravity lying beneath it, 
and the merciless perversions of Scripture em- 
ployed to buttress it with Divine sanctions. 
They have pleaded for the light of growing 
knowledge, for the fullest use of reason, for a 
recognition of the value of intuition, for the 
exercise of liberty, and for an appreciation of 
the Christ-like spirit as the touchstone of true 
religion. Although they have stood apart, work- 



204 The Spiritual Outlook. 

ing from separate vantage-points, and often 
unaware of each other's service, like the allied 
armies in the memorable siege and relief of 
Pekin in 1900, yet they have fought a common 
battle in a common cause ; and therefore the 
names and the colors of both must be inter- 
twined in the celebrations of victory that may 
aim to do them honor. 

If it be asked, next, why Universalism and 
XJnitarianism have embodied themselves in two 
very small organizations, each of which has had 
but a limited growth and is still feeble, the 
answer is to be found partly in the temper of 
the age in which they started, and partly in the 
magnitude of the spiritual transition which their 
historic development represents. 

1. The lesson of religious toleration had not 
been perfectly learned a hundred years ago, nor 
indeed can it be said to have been so learned 
even now ; the baneful influence of the past still 
lingered and lingers. In the days of the In- 
quisition the Roman Catholic Church killed its 
heretics, and since then has excommunicated 
them ; while Orthodox Protestantism, if it did 
neither of these things, so criticised and os- 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 205 

tracised those who departed from the traditional 
standards of belief as virtually to drive them out. 
At the same time those who thus departed 
could have little love for the ideas which they 
had come to reject, and could not well dwell in 
harmony with people still holding them. Hence, 
by a kind of necessity, the unbelievers — who 
were really the larger believers — drew away 
from their former associates and drew together 
in new groups. In this they realized the truth 
of what Jesus said, that " new wine must be put 
into fresh wine-skins" — chiefly because the old, 
dried skins will crack under the expansive force 
of the new wine. 

It is an interesting question whether such a 
course is always best. If only the old wine- 
skins were a little more elastic ! We complain 
about the numerous sects that exist ; but what 
causes them ? Insistence upon dogmatic agree- 
ment, intolerance of differences, inhospitality to 
new truth, — largely these, at any rate. So long 
as such a temper prevails in a church, progressive 
people must be unhappy or get out. If Uni- 
versalists and Unitarians had been allowed to 
hold their new views in the old churches, there 



206 The Spiritual Outlook. 

would have been no need of forming two more 
little sects, with their special interests tending to 
narrowness and leading to a waste of energy; 
and I am not at all sure but that the cause of 
Truth would have been vastly better subserved 
if the advanced thinkers could have held their 
ground and slowly modified the teachings of 
those old churches. But the inevitable hap- 
pened because the times were not ripe for a 
higher inevitable ; and one wonders how long it 
is going to take the world to profit by its mis- 
takes in these most precious interests of human 
life. 

2. But the greatness of the task which these 
two denominations have been instrumental in 
performing is the principal justification of their 
organic separateness. Most people do not yet 
understand that the wonderful transition in 
religious thought which the nineteenth century 
has witnessed is part of a vast historical develop- 
ment whose sweep is through the ages, and that 
it is vitally connected with the new type of 
civilization now beginning to appear in our 
Western world. But it is clear to at least a 
few that the theological reformation which has 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 207 

been wrought out in these communions during 
the last hundred years, and which in different 
ways is now commencing in various circles about 
us, is a legitimate continuation of that ecclesias- 
tical reformation which found its best voice in 
Martin Luther nearly four centuries ago. That 
prior reformation itself was, in a sense, a natural 
product of the Renaissance, which in turn was 
the first great spiritual fruit of the new nations 
of northern Europe, that had succeeded the 
ancient Romans and Greeks in the control of the 
world. Mr. John Fiske is entirely correct in 
saying that " the whole course of the Protestant 
Reformation, from the thirteenth century to the 
nineteenth, is coincident with the transfer of the 
world's political centre of gravity from the Tiber 
and the Rhine to the Thames and the Missis- 
sippi." x Hence the transition in religious 
thought and feeling that so intimately concerns 
us really marks a stupendous change from the 
ideals and motives of antiquity to the radically 
different ideals and motives of modern times. 

If we analyze this change in its broader as- 
pects, we shall see that it consists essentially in 

1 Beginnings of New England, p. 49. 



208 The Spiritual Outlook. 

a growth away from despotism, partialism, 
ignorance, superstition, and fear toward lib- 
erty, fraternity, intelligence, love, and hope. 

Ancient society was a huge despotism based 
upon partialism. Whoever possessed power 
usually exercised it with tyranny. Might made 
right. The most wanton prodigality went hand 
in hand with the most cruel oppressions. 
Slavery was the social mudsill everywhere. 
Between different races there was no affinity 
or sympathy ; each race or tribe existed for it- 
self, had its own patron divinity, and believed 
itself justified in warring upon every other race 
and against every other god as it had oppor- 
tunity. Nowhere was there any thought of 
universal human brotherhood; only here and 
there could a spiritual seer of the largest vision, 
like Isaiah or Jeremiah, or a philosopher of 
comprehensive view, like Plato or Aristotle, 
begin to conceive of any such wide and vital 
social bond. The ignorance prevailing among 
the masses, coupled with the deep religious 
instinct which has always been potent in human 
nature, inevitably made superstition and fear 
the dominant forces in all actions involving 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 209 

religious considerations. Thus the life of the 
ancient world was full of inequality and terror ; 
and the injustice or antipathy existing between 
man and man, between nation and nation, was 
merely an exponent, half as cause and half 
as effect, of the strife and alienation which 
always seemed imminent between heaven and 
earth. 

But all this has slowly passed away. Little 
by little the multitudes have risen in knowledge, 
skill, and strength; little by little they have 
wrested power out of the hands of the few and 
appropriated it into the hands of the many ; little 
by little they have acquired economic and politi- 
cal independence ; little by little intelligence has 
been diffused ; and little by little the terrors of a 
supernal realm have faded out of the sky, and 
man, no longer afraid of his God, is beginning to 
learn what it means to trust and love Him. 
Liberty has found a permanent abiding-place in 
our world ; the idea of brotherhood has grown 
apace; the sense of social responsibility has 
vastly deepened and strengthened; education 
is rapidly becoming general ; superstition has 

largely vanished ; and, in spite of much hardship 

14 



210 The Spiritual Outlook. 

and sorrow, the children of men are able to look 
forward with a beautiful hope never dreamed of 
before. Religion is rising out of despotism, par- 
tialism, and dread into freedom, cosmopolitanism, 
and optimism. Who shall say, then, that it is 
not the dawn of a new day which we are witness- 
ing in these wonderful years ? 

Without attempting to apportion to the several 
causes which have been at work their respective 
shares in the production of this grand result, it 
is proper to claim that Christianity, in spite of all 
its encumbrances of error and wrong, has been a 
chief agent in steadily educating our portion of 
the world to a loftier and purer religious and 
social life. Its prodigious labors may be said to 
have culminated, in this our own time, in bringing 
forth a type of religion that co-ordinates knowl- 
edge and reverence, freedom and loyalty, love 
to God and love to man, more successfully than 
it has ever been done before. Sometimes I think, 
in view of all this unfolding richness and beauty 
in the spiritual life of the present, that the tran- 
sition in thought and sentiment in which we are 
privileged to participate is greater, because more 
extensive and more enlightened, than that which 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 211 

marked the introduction of Christianity into the 
pagan world. 

And it is because Universalism and Unita- 
rianism have been helpers and leaders in this 
mighty transformation, however blindly and blun- 
deringly they have wrought, that it was necessary, 
if not altogether wise, that they should develop in 
the form of organized movements distinct from 
all other religious bodies. Their providential 
mission has made their temporary isolation expe- 
dient, even as was the case with the Israeli tish 
nation ; and the calumny from which they have 
suffered may have done more than we are aware 
to purify, discipline, and strengthen the blessed 
spirit which they have enshrined. 

Nor can any thoughtful man wonder, when he 
takes in the full import of this vast transforma- 
tion, that these two little, separate movements 
should not have converted and incorporated the 
multitudes in a single century. The great masses 
of mankind are but slowly infected with new and 
high spiritual ideals ; the momentum of history 
is tremendous ; and a period of one or two hun- 
dred years is barely long enough to get well 
started in the gigantic task of reconstructing the 



212 The Spiritual Outlook. 

enormous fabric of Mediaeval Christianity, whose 
ruling conceptions have shaped nearly all our 
Western thought regarding religion ever since 
the fall of the Roman Empire. No other change 
in the Christian Church since Luther's protest, 
whether it be the rise of Congregationalism or 
the outburst of Methodism or even the growth 
of the modern missionary movement, has been 
fraught with deeper lasting significance for the 
advance of the kingdom of heaven than this 
theological and ethical development whose two- 
fold manifestation is seen in Universalism and 
Unitarianism. 

Now, after looking at the matter in this broad 
way, it is well enough to consider what these 
two progressively reformative agencies may be 
said to have accomplished during the compara- 
tively brief period covered by their activity. 
Limitations of space forbid an elaborate discus- 
sion, but I may at least mention, under a few 
counts, the main results which they have helped 
conspicuously to achieve. 

1. Smallest among these has been the up- 
building of a denomination or church in each 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 213 

case. It was not the intention or desire of their 
friends in the beginning to form a new sect in 
either instance ; rather did they hope that their 
views would win acceptance in the established 
churches, as Jesus hoped that his teachings 
would do in the Jewish Church of his day, and 
as many of the Christian Scientists at first pre- 
ferred regarding the adoption of their ideas by 
the older Christian bodies of our own time. 
Hence the work of Universalists and Unitarians 
has been predominantly missionary, that is, the 
work of seed-sowing, through itinerant preaching 
and the distribution of literature ; and it is only 
within the last half-century that they have seri- 
ously undertaken the development of an institu- 
tional life, while it is only about twenty-five or 
thirty years since they began to apply themselves 
energetically to the task of planting churches and 
pushing the growth of the various denomina- 
tional interests. As it is, the organized agencies 
which these two communions now have are cer- 
tainly creditable, and have been so wisely formed 
as to be susceptible of expansion without disrup- 
tion, — a point of very great advantage. What 
their total assets are I need not try to tell, for 



214 The Spiritual Outlook. 

all such information may be gleaned from the 
year-books ; but I will simply remark that the 
two denominations are quite as well equipped 
for earnest w T ork, in proportion to their size, as 
they could be reasonably expected to become 
under all the circumstances. 

2. More important has been their contribution 
to the victory of the great principle of intellec- 
tual freedom in religion, as opposed to the prin- 
ciple of authority. You know how the authority 
of the Hierarchy among Roman Catholics, and 
the authority of the Bible among Orthodox Prot- 
estants, and the vague but potent authority of 
antiquity and of dogmatic systems among people 
in general, have played an immense role in mod- 
ern Christian history. No doubt all this involves 
a large element of value ; but unchecked it be- 
comes a huge evil. Against this Universalism 
and Unitarianism have waged a stubborn fight, 
contending valiantly for the right of each human 
soul to the fullest exercise of reason and liberty 
in matters of religious thought, belief, and wor- 
ship. They have been charged with undue 
rationalism and independence because of this 
contention, and perhaps there is a degree of 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 215 

justice in the charge — which is not strange; 
but these boons that they have helped to win 
for the whole world are of unspeakable worth, 
and some slight excesses in their use are pardon- 
able and may be safely left to self-rectification. 

3. Still more important is the better concep- 
tion of the character of God and of human 
nature which they have done much to inculcate. 
God and man are the two principal terms in all 
systems of religious teaching, and what one 
thinks of these must shape mainly his thought 
upon every related subject. The Calvinistic 
idea of the Divine Being was that of an infinite 
Autocrat, omnipotent and implacable ; while its 
notion of man was that of a creature totally 
corrupt and incapable of any self-attainment of 
virtue, lying under sentence of condemnation 
from this Deity to everlasting torment. To 
such extremes were men carried in their over- 
emphasis of the sovereignty of God and of the 
sinfulness of mankind ! Logic is merciless when 
enlisted in the service of merciless schemes. But 
against these views Universalism and Unitarian- 
ism have waged incessant war, denouncing them 
as unreasonable, un-Christian, and inhuman; and, 



216 The Spiritual Outlook. 

on the other hand, they have advocated the ex- 
alted and loving conceptions of both God and 
man which Jesus Christ inculcated, — of God as 
the Heavenly Father of all the children of men, 
and of each human soul as precious beyond com- 
pare in His sight, and capable of the free imita- 
tion of His own benevolent spirit. By so doing 
they have helped mightily to break down a hard, 
narrow, false theological system that was well- 
nigh complete in its ascendency in America, and 
have exerted a more potent influence than any 
other agency perhaps to emancipate the human 
soul and all the spiritual interests of modern 
civilization from its terrible constriction. With 
a loftier vision of God and a nobler appreciation 
of man, Christian theology and philanthropy are 
now ready to go forward in a larger and fairer 
development than any age has witnessed since 
the days of Christ and the apostles. 

4. Lastly, Universalism and Unitarianism 
have been leading forces in effecting a general 
reconstruction of thought on nearly all other 
phases of Christian doctrine, — touching the 
nature and office of Christ, the interpretation 
and value of the Bible, the function of the Church 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 217 

and the meaning of its ordinances, the reality 
about sin and its consequences, the importance 
of morality alike to religion and to social welfare, 
and the brighter outlook heavenward for the 
human soul. Slowly and carefully they have 
wrought out sound views regarding these various 
problems connected with the personal religious 
life, and they are ready at any moment to hold 
them up to the light for the critical inspection 
of all concerned. They may fairly claim to 
have co-ordinated knowledge and reverence, 
science and faith, uncompromising reason and 
vital religion, more completely than any other con- 
siderable portion of modern Christendom. Be- 
sides, they have steadfastly kept the way open for 
progress, and have thoroughly learned to expect 
further advancement to be made in a knowledge 
of the divine glories of the universe. They will 
doubtless continue to labor for a still better 
understanding of Christianity, and to look for 
light everywhere, and to receive it gladly when- 
soever it may break forth. They listen reverently 
to the voice of science, the message of philosophy, 
the song of the poet, and the hymn or prayer of 
every religious system on earth ; but most of all 



218 The Spiritual Outlook. 

they hearken to the whisper of the Divine Spirit 
in the inmost soul, bearing witness with our 
spirit that we are children of God, — * and if 
children, then heirs ; heirs of God and joint heirs 
with Christ." 

Thus, in this fourfold way, Universalism and 
Unitarianism have rendered an immense service 
in helping to batter down the barriers to religious 
progress, and to give the world a purer type of 
Christianity, — clarified, verified, rationalized, and 
spiritualized. If truth is the most precious pos- 
session of the human mind, and must underlie 
all its permanent achievements, the value of this 
great influence which they have exerted — what- 
ever may have been the shortcomings of the 
denominational bodies representing it — must 
prove in the long run to be of the largest measure 
for all the interests of our Christian civilization. 

But I shall not do my whole duty unless I 
point out, justly though briefly, the limitations 
that still characterize these important develop- 
ments. 

1. I must mention the excess of iconoclastic 
and negative work. This is the fault, perhaps, 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 219 

which their critics notice first, and which therefore 
may be regarded as most conspicuous. But it 
was inevitable and has been merely incidental. 
Movements, like men, have the defects of their 
virtues. It is needful that they should be strong 
in certain respects, in order to do a powerful 
work ; but it is easy to go to an extreme in the 
exercise of their strength. Universalism and 
Unitarianism had to be destructive at first and for 
a long time, and it was quite natural that they 
should keep up the habit of antagonizing and 
demolishing error, even after its dominion was 
effectually broken. Such an excess of the critical 
quality, however, is unquestionably a weakness. 
People are not helped much by fault-finding and 
negation ; what they chiefly need is positive, con- 
structive, progressive leadership along all good 
lines ; and the first call of duty to Universalism 
and Unitarianism to-day is to rise up and go 
forward, — to take the ground which they have 
helped to clear of weeds and brambles, and to 
produce thereupon the beautiful fruits of the 
Spirit in great abundance. The religious world 
waits for this nobler result, as the consummation 
and justification of all that has gone before. 



220 The Spiritual Outlook. 

2. Akin to this defect has been an over- 
emphasis of the intellectual element in religion. 
This, likewise, was inevitable because men had 
repudiated the claims of reason to be heard in the 
court of divine justice, and nothing short of an 
urgent assertion of its rights could effect their 
recognition. But it has been an incidental failing, 
which will be corrected because the human soul 
is not all intellect, and the intellect is not even 
the chief avenue by which divine truth is appre- 
hended. Reason has its place in religion, and 
henceforth is bound to be acknowledged ; but 
other voices are to be heard also, and may tell as 
much of God and all spiritual interests as the 
intellectual faculty. So I feel sure that the 
second lesson which Universalism and Unitarian- 
ism need to learn and heed to-day is to pay more 
attention to the intuitions, the feelings, the spir- 
itual affections, and the great ethical forces, that 
testify of holy virtues, aspirations, and sanctions, 
by which the human soul may mount up with 
wings as eagles, may run and not be weary, may 
walk and not faint. 

3. Another defect has been the narrowing in- 
fluence of denominationalism and boasted " liber- 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 221 

alism." All sects limit, more or less, the range 
of people's thought and sympathy. Some one has 
said that when you build a fence, you fence out 
more than you fence in. The moment you es- 
tablish a new denomination, that moment you 
begin to ask men to be earnestly devoted to its 
interests, and then you begin to magnify them, 
and then you lose sight of all other interests. 
It is one of the prices we have to pay for or- 
ganization that the administration of its affairs 
consumes much valuable talent, often engrossing 
labor and love which ought to go to higher things. 
Thus it comes to pass that people sometimes find 
themselves " all wrapped up " in their own 
church, forgetting that at best it is only one 
branch of a great, spreading Vine ; and not in- 
frequently a spirit of pride takes possession of 
them, and conceit closes up the way to further 
progress. Universalism and Unitarianism have 
done their full share of boasting over their 
" liberal" thought, their " progressive" character, 
and will do well now to cease glorying, and 
simply go to work as earnestly as possible to 
put their great gospel at the service of mankind 
in all lowly, Christ-like ways. Then they will 



222 The Spiritual Outlook. 

broaden out to sympathize with every other 
movement that seeks in a similar spirit to follow 
the same Master. 

4. This leads me to say that still another 
limitation in Universalism and Unitarianism is 
the lack of an ardent devotion to the personal 
leadership of Jesus Christ. In discarding the 
trinitarian view of his nature, which deifies him, 
and in adopting the humanitarian view, as has 
been done in some cases partially and in other 
cases — perhaps now in most — entirely, there 
has been an incidental loss of a certain reverent 
regard for his personal character, as well as for 
his supposed official position. This loss has been, 
indeed, a gain in so far as that reverence was false 
because based upon an erroneous conception, — 
and such was the case to a very great extent ; 
but the loss has been absolute in so far as it has 
diminished our appreciation of the spiritual 
beauty and supremacy of that Peerless Teacher 
who called himself the Son of Man and who 
has been so truly the Light of the religious 
world. Perhaps this loss has not been so general 
as, to unfriendly eyes, it may have seemed; and 
certainly one may not find in all Christian liter- 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 223 

ature more affectiouate expressions of allegiance 
and attachment to Jesus of Nazareth than have 
fallen from the lips of some who have been fore- 
most in claiming that he was strictly and only 
a human being. 1 This fact shows that such 
an esteem — warm, loving, all-controlling — is 
wholly compatible with the theory that makes 
him simply one of God's human agents, although 
gladly acknowledged as the Chief among them 
all, for the spiritual education of mankind ; and 
my point is that just this esteem, this fervent 
honor and devotion, is precisely the result which 
Universalism and Unitarianism have been some- 
what in danger of missing in the individual 
disciple, and which therefore they need especially 
to be careful to secure. The Christian world 
waits for this demonstration, and it will be 
increasingly afforded. For it will be more and 
more clearly seen that Jesus was none other than 
a great historical Exponent of that high and pure 
spiritual religion which is ultimately possible to 
all men ; that as such he is indeed the Spiritual 
Leader and Teacher of the ages, whose example 

1 E. g. Theodore Parker, as see J. W. Chadwick's biog- 
raphy. 



224 The Spiritual Outlook. 

is incalculably precious to us ; that the conceptions 
which he entertained, and the faith which he 
cherished, and the holy spirit which animated 
him may be ours if we seek earnestly to attain 
them, as he shows us how; that we are saved 
out of spiritual ignorance, out of sin, out of all 
manner of evil, by thus learning of him, appro- 
priating his help, and following " in his steps ; " 
and that the highest proof of our loyal love to 
him consists in our faithful endeavor to obey 
" the law of the spirit of life " which he so 
perfectly manifested, — as Whittier has admirably 
indicated in the familiar lines, — 

" Our Friend, our Brother, and our Lord, 
What may thy service be ? 
Nor name, nor sign, nor ritual word, 
But simply following thee." 

I am sure that one of the specific functions of 
Universalism and Unitarianism to-day is to show 
the world how easily possible, how natural and 
perfectly consistent it is, to hold strictly to the 
humanitarian conception of the nature of Jesus, 
and yet to acknowledge his spiritual greatness, 
and, therefore, to accept him as the Religious 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 225 

Teacher for the individual soul, for society at 
large, and for all the nations of the earth. Such 
a conception of him, joined with such a feeling 
toward him and such an allegiance to him, can- 
not fail to commend itself to the growing intelli- 
gence of mankind, or to exert a most sweet and 
elevating influence upon the whole religious life 
of our age. 

5. I should like to say something about one 
further limitation in Universalism and Unitarian- 
ism, namely, the want of adequate zeal in practical 
Christian work, — in missions, in social service, 
and in reform. But their records in this respect 
are not seriously discreditable when all things 
are fairly considered ; and, moreover, their short- 
comings in these matters, whatever they may 
have been, are beginning to be overcome. 
Therefore I will merely remark that another 
distinct call of Duty to these two progressive 
movements at present is to go on in this path- 
way to make their enlightened thought and their 
religious convictions efficient for the uplifting of 
mankind in all wise, earnest, and loving ways. 
For it is the business of every Christian church 
to be, not only a communion of saints, or a form 

15 



226 The Spiritual Outlook. 

of expression for a common religious spirit, but 
also an instrument for righteousness, for social 
betterment, for the perfection of the race, — in 
short, for the full establishment of the kingdom 
of God on earth ; and no movement in the realm 
of ideas regarding religion can find adequate 
justification, from the Christian point of view, un- 
less and until it eventuate in some such practical 
ministry. I am confident that Universalism and 
Unitarianism should and will thoroughly learn 
this great lesson. 

Now I have left myself scant space for glanc- 
ing at the outlook for these two significant phases 
of modern spiritual progress. But perhaps it 
will suffice if I sum up my thought in a single 
sentence, by saying that the past has been but a 
preparation ; that the present age demands just 
such an enlightened and beautiful gospel as these 
denominational movements have to offer; that 
already its essential principles and spirit are very 
widely accepted, even though neither of the 
names designating it be acknowledged ; and that 
it may very well happen that the communions 
which have wrought out these nobler views of 
divine things shall become larger instrumental- 



Universalism and Unitarianism. 227 

ities for their promulgation, in the next fifty or 
one hundred years, than we can now foresee. 

The only other development in the modern 
religious world that seems to me — considering its 
profound and wide-reaching influence — at all 
comparable in importance to the one herein 
sketched is Congregationalism. But we are to 
remember that the history of Congregationalism 
covers not less than three centuries ; and that, 
while its fundamental principles, its inherent aim, 
and its social bearing have remained practically 
unchanged from the beginning, yet its doctrinal 
interpretation of Christianity and certain aspects 
of its theory of Christian society have broadened 
greatly, and so have altered very much its surface 
character; while, furthermore, over half of its 
numerical growth has occurred within the last 
seventy-five years. 1 Who shall say what even a 
single century more will do for Universalism and 
Unitarianism, as they build upon the ample basis 
which has now been laid for them, and labor 
with the wisdom and consecration which they 
are at length beginning to manifest? Perhaps 
they can never be zealous in any form of proselyt- 

1 I refer mainly to American Congregationalism. 



228 The Spiritual Outlook. 

ism, or ambitious for any kind of mere institutional 
prosperity ; but there is abundant reason to hope 
that they will continue to be high-minded teachers 
of the truth and lowly, loving helpers of man- 
kind. Is there really any nobler mission for them 
to fulfil ? 



CURRENT ETHICAL STANDARDS AND 

THE NEEDED MORAL EMPHASIS 

IN RELIGIOUS TEACHING. 




CURRENT ETHICAL STANDARDS AND 

THE NEEDED MORAL EMPHASIS 

IN RELIGIOUS TEACHING. 

INE of the encouraging signs of our 
time is the growth of moral sensitive- 
ness. Along with the remarkable ad- 
vances which have been made, during the century 
just passed, in material, intellectual, and religious 
ways, and in politics, philanthropy, and science, 
there has been a corresponding progress in the 
ethical direction. This assertion may be ques- 
tioned; and of course, like all general statements 
respecting human affairs, it is subject to some 
qualifications ; but I think that, on the whole, it 
is warranted by a broad review of the facts. 
Let us consider briefly what has taken place in 
four important particulars. 

I. There has been a distinct moralizing of 
religion. This may seem like an odd remark. 
A moment's reflection, however, will show that 
religion is often one thing, and morality is quite 



232 The Spiritual Outlook. 

another thing. The primary expression of re- 
ligion is worship in some form, and worship 
usually has to do with rites and ceremonies 
which imply attitudes and relations to the deity 
or deities. The strictly religious man, therefore, 
is he who faithfully performs these, who punc- 
tually observes times and seasons, who scrupu- 
lously complies with the rules and regulations 
regarded as essential to the securing of the Divine 
favor. But it is evident that there is no neces- 
sary connection between these duties and those 
moral obligations which the common conscience 
of mankind indicates that people owe to one 
another. A person may be extremely solicitous 
about the disposition of the gods toward him, 
and may offer costly sacrifices, make long prayers, 
hold elaborate festivals, or go on extended pil- 
grimages, in order to placate their wrath, do 
them suitable honor, and obtain their gracious 
assistance, without ever thinking of being honest, 
just, kind, and helpful toward his fellow-men. 
So it has happened that, in the vast majority 
of cases throughout the world, among savages 
and pagans, among Orientals and barbarians, 
and even among many Christians, religion has 



Current Ethical Standards. 233 

been neither moral nor immoral, but simply 
unmoral. 

Now it is one of the great excellencies — I 
sometimes think it is the very greatest of all the 
excellencies — of both Judaism and Christianity, 
in their pure and legitimate state, that they 
are profoundly and vitally moral. The ethical 
quality is not only conspicuous in them, but it 
dominates them. Righteousness is a living 
reality in them ; the highest duty a man owes 
to God, according to their teachings, is to deal 
justly and lovingly with all other men ; and the 
truest worship we can offer to the Father is the 
pure incense of a heart that is quick with the 
spirit of uprightness and compassion toward His 
needy children. This lofty conception appears 
upon the pages of both the Old and the New 
Testaments, and its exemplification by the proph- 
ets and apostles, and especially by the Son of 
Man, as well as by the early churches, constitutes 
the noblest lesson which the spiritual genius of 
the Israelites has given to the world. 

But, unfortunately, the readers of the Bible 
and the followers of Christ have not always 
learned this lesson. They have often separated 



234 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the two things which Jesus made one, — morality 
and religion, — calling the former " filthy rags" 
in comparison with the latter; insisting upon 
rites and ceremonies, institutions and dogmas, 
but neglecting justice and mercy ; being particu- 
lar about prayers and penances, fasts and sacri- 
fices, but not hesitating to strive and fight, to lie 
and cheat, to be drunken and licentious. Thus 
it came to pass, a hundred years ago, that re- 
ligion, in both England and America, was dog- 
matic and ecclesiastical enough, but far from being 
as moral as it ought. But during the nine- 
teenth century the great lesson has been much 
more thoroughly learned than ever before, — 
though of course it has been diligently inculcated, 
here and there, during all the Christian centuries, 
in spite of gross errors and practices, — that re- 
ligion, according to the teaching of the Bible 
and especially of Jesus Christ, is radically and 
unequivocally moral ; that no man is truly re- 
ligious, in the Christian sense, who is not first of 
all a good man, — honest, just, kind; and that 
our chief business as followers of the Nazarene 
is to make righteousness and love to prevail here 
in this world by living righteously and lovingly 



Current Ethical Standards. 235 

ourselves. Therefore the Christianity of our day 
is a more definitely and earnestly moral type of 
Christianity than that of former times. The 
ethical note sounds mightily through all the best 
preaching of this generation ; and the churches, 
in spite of all their shortcomings, are more 
surely than ever the bulwarks of righteous- 
ness in private and public life. The develop- 
ment, no doubt, needs to go much further; 
but the fact that it has already gone so far 
is one of the most gratifying features of our 
present spiritual tendency. The moralizing of 
religion means the ultimate moralizing of our 
whole civilization. 

2. Side by side with this, there has been a 
similar movement in philanthropy. Charity has 
become not only wiser, but more just, — not less 
sentimental, in a true way, but more serious. 
Instead of mere alms-giving, prompted by the 
impulse of pity, and subject to the fluctuations 
of feeling, it has become the careful study of the 
real needs of the dependent classes, based upon 
an intelligent recognition of the obligation of 
those that are strong to bear the infirmities of 
the weak, and not to please themselves. The 



236 The Spiritual Outlook. 

force of this obligation is now felt to be very 
great, and its appreciation is spreading rapidly 
and widely in modern society. Under its influ- 
ence we are learning that even the weakest and 
the wickedest have rights, and that the thing 
which must be done for them is simply the right 
thing, — not the convenient or the expedient 
thing merely, but rather that which the Christian 
conscience pronounces right. The convenient or 
expedient thing might be to kill murderers, lu- 
natics, and fools ; but this would be wrong, and 
morality bids us do a very different thing with 
them. Thus the voice of morality dictates in 
modern philanthropy, in all its phases ; and it is 
not too much to say that ethical considerations 
are supreme in these noble concerns. It was 
really the ethical passion, the resolute voice of 
the moral law, that was the most potent factor 
in the abolition of slavery ; and it will eventually 
abolish all other gigantic iniquities by its slow 
but sure increase of power in men's hearts. 
Every great reform is at bottom a moral re- 
form ; every great humanitarian enterprise is an 
aspect of the warfare between right and wrong ; 
and in the last analysis it is the determination of 



Current Ethical Standards. 237 

the right that will carry the day for benevolence 
against all evil. 

3. Likewise there has been a marked morali- 
zation of education. Not very long ago it was 
popularly supposed that, if children were only 
taught to read, write, and cipher, so that all 
might be intellectually enlightened, the world 
would be shortly redeemed. Teach every boy a 
trade, and put a book into his hands, and the 
republic would be safe. But to-day every 
thoughtful person sees that the ability to read 
is no guaranty that one will read what is good ; 
that the ability to write does not necessarily 
insure a man against committing forgery ; that 
the ability to cipher is not a proof against dis- 
honest book-keeping. In other words, the moral 
element in education is vastly more important 
than was formerly imagined, — indeed, in its 
social bearings, it is perhaps the very most vital 
and substantial element ; for we can never have 
a good government until we have good citizens, 
and we cannot have good citizens until we have 
good men. So at present, in the educational 
world, morality is being insisted upon as never 
before ; teachers must be, not only scholars and 



238 The Spiritual Outlook. 

trained, but worthy examples in conduct and 
character; no dishonest, cruel, ugly man or 
woman will be tolerated in any good school; 
and by every influence the moral impulses and 
aspirations of the pupils are quickened and re- 
inforced, and lofty ideals are held before them. 
Religion may not be taught in its entirety in our 
schools ; but this noble half of religion, this 
foundation for all else that is true and beautiful 
in religious character, is being earnestly empha- 
sized and promises untold benefits. For when 
the teachings of both the churches and the 
schools become thoroughly ethical, we shall have 
set at work the most constructive of all agencies 
except the home to build up in righteousness the 
fabric of our social and national life. 

4. Once more, there has begun to be at length 
a corresponding moralization of industry. Less 
than fifty years ago the prevalent conception of 
labor among political economists was that it was 
a mere commodity, to be bought and sold in the 
so-called labor market for what it would bring 
according to the laws of supply and demand. 
This idea is still far from being outgrown, as 
current events from time to time painfully re- 



Current Ethical Standards. 239 

mind us. And yet it has really begun to dis- 
appear, here and there, before the truer, juster 
notion that a working-man is a working man; 
that he is not a machine or a chattel, but a 
human being with a soul as full of desires, am- 
bitions, hopes, fears, affections, and ideals as any 
other man's soul ; that therefore human consid- 
erations count with him, and must be reckoned 
with by his employer ; that he wants not merely 
his wages, but some fair chance to be a man and 
to be treated in a manly fashion ; and that he is 
ready to respond to such treatment as quickly as 
anybody else, becoming a better workman by as 
much as he becomes a better man. Accordingly 
progressive employers are beginning to invest in 
the manhood of their employes by providing 
for them better dwellings, beautiful surround- 
ings, sanitary conditions for their labor, oppor- 
tunities for improvement and enjoyment, and 
inducements to strive for excellence in their 
work. 1 All this pays, for both sides, in every 
sense ; but, more than that, it is a frank and 
practical recognition of the mutual obligations, 

1 See reports of Mr. W. H. Tolman's exhibit at the Paris 
Exposition, 1900, for the League for Social Service, New York. 



240 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the interdependence, of human beings who are 
brothers. As such it marks the beginning of 
that new and higher order of industrial society 
which will gradually supersede our present or- 
der, where suspicion, selfishness, and strife so 
often lurk, by bringing in the era of reasonable 
and fraternal co-operation and consequent par- 
ticipation in the prosperity that comes where 
capital, talent, and labor are harnessed together 
in the grand business of producing, not only mate- 
rial commodities, but also contentment and peace. 
Such, then, is the four-fold moralization 
which, I think, has unquestionably taken place 
during the nineteenth century, — in religion, in 
philanthropy, in education, and in industry. Of 
course the development cannot be marked off 
by any periods of time, neither can it be exactly 
gauged; but it is gratifying to be able to dis- 
cern, even in the most general way, a progress 
in these vital interests which may be considered 
as prophetic of undreamed results yet to be 
accomplished. 

Nevertheless we must not be unduly elated 
by the encouragements thus derived. Evil 



Current Ethical Standards. 241 

enough remains to subdue our gratification. 
Morality is yet far from being what it ought to 
be among us. Our ethical standards are still 
low in many respects, and our ethical conduct 
does not come anywhere near a realization of our 
ideals. I venture to indicate in the briefest way 
some of the more prominent defects in our 
prevalent moral conceptions and practices. 

1. It can hardly be denied that we are unduly 
subject to the influence of wealth. Large allow- 
ances are to be made for this fact. We in 
America are living in a new and marvellously 
rich country, of enormous area and exhaustless 
resources; we have passed through an era of 
wonderful inventions for developing all this 
latent wealth ; and comforts and luxuries are 
made more abundant now than in any preceding 
age. Great fortunes have become numerous — 
it is the day of the " multi-millionaire ; " the 
power of money is seen on every hand ; and the 
opportunities for money-making are doubtless 
larger than ever before. It is scarcely surprising, 
therefore, that multitudes of people are enamored 
of riches, and that among the thousands who 
possess them a considerable number make fools 

16 



242 The Spiritual Outlook. 

of themselves, while as many more who have 
them not are equally foolish in aping the other 
fools. 

Nevertheless it is a distinct defect in a peoples 
life when wealth is over-esteemed ; when the 
supreme object of existence is to make money ; 
when men and women gloat over the mere fact 
of possession ; when they make the most wanton 
and emulous display of their riches ; when in- 
telligence, refinement, true culture, honor, and 
even religion are considered inferior to the 
materialism of sordid gain. No sensible man 
ever thinks of disputing the value of wealth in 
its proper place, but its place is not the throne 
of the human heart. With many of our people, 
however, it is a veritable Mammon, — ruling 
over them, and being virtually worshipped by 
them. It is a crude, coarse, vulgar taste, a sign 
of moral imperfection, an indication that one has 
not yet risen much above the instinct of the 
beast, when his controlling passion is to get and 
have, regardless of means. Not until we are 
"born from above" shall we learn that "man 
doth not live by bread alone ; " not until we per- 
ceive the intrinsic worth and dignity of the human 



Current Ethical Standards. 243 

soul, and begin to appreciate most the things 
which minister to its true development, can we 
be said to be highly civilized. Then our estimate 
of men will not depend upon their possession 
or wanting of material riches ; the superb riches 
of learning, virtue, and true piety will be seen 
to be far nobler and worthier of our pursuit ; 
and the glory of our civilization will consist in 
our ability to transmute the wealth of the ma- 
terial world into the treasures of the spiritual 
kingdom, — knowledge, beauty, love, peace, 
happiness. 

2. Akin to this defect is another which ex- 
hibits itself in an over- weening love of notoriety. 
This is the age of the newspaper, and I some- 
times wonder whether the newspaper does not 
go farther toward making us what we are than 
either the school or the church. Perhaps not — 
I think not ; indeed, it may be that the news- 
paper is just a mirror to show us what we are. 
Be this as it may, it is certain that we are all 
learning to utilize the newspaper, even if the 
newspaper does not utilize us. Whenever we 
do anything of the least importance, in the home, 
the church, the school, the club, the society, we 



244 The Spiritual Outlook. 

straightway hurry a report of it to the daily 
paper ; and that item, when it appears, affords 
us more complacency than all the kind, loving 
deeds we have done, in little private ways, for 
a week ! We appear to want to live in the 
public eye ; and the worst of it is that, in our 
desire to make a good showing, we overstrain 
the facts and the truth, and thus cultivate a 
secret dishonesty that reveals a weak spot in 
the centre of the character. 

This may not be a very serious tendency, but 
we shall do well to resist it. Better let your 
meeting or essay or social function go unreported 
than to lie about it, or get the reporter to do so, 
even to a slight extent. The world will quickly 
see through your pretence. Be modest, be 
patient, above all be truthful. 

" Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air ; M 

but let it waste ! The earth will swing on in its 
orbit, the sun will continue to shine, and there 
will be other flowers after you are gone. Just 
live and bloom and die, and do not think quite 
so much about yourself, and let the newspaper 



Current Ethical Standards. 245 

forget that you are in the world. God will not 
forget, and a little corner that He watches will 
be sweet with beautv all the same, even if the 
people do not know. 

3. A worse moral defect than either of these 
is dishonesty ; I do not mean so much in regard 
to veracity and money matters as in regard to 
trade and workmanship. In ancient Israel there 
were " false balances," which were considered 
" an abomination unto the Lord." In our day 
there are adulterations, in groceries, drugs, paints, 
whiskies, and what not ? The extent to which 
these concrete lies are carried is appalling, and 
the discouraging fact about them is that the 
people are so indifferent to them. Public officials 
are doing something to expose and check them, 
but their work should be supplemented by an 
indignant public sentiment. Every person ought 
to feel that to cheat a customer by selling him 
an inferior article when he pays for a good one, 
is to rob him as literally as to pick his pockets 
or break open his safe. So it is in the matter of 
work. The carpenter, mason, or painter who 
will not do just as good work when it is out of 
sight, or when the boss is out of sight, as other- 



246 The Spiritual Outlook. 

wise is likewise a robber. An honest workman 
is honest all through and everywhere. Fortu- 
nately there are thousands of such, but there are 
not a few of the other sort. 

Now, when trade and workmanship are vitiated 
by such dishonesty, the trader and the workman 
are themselves injured in character, and civiliza- 
tion is in that degree built like a house on the sand. 
The influence of every deed counts somewhere ; 
young people learn from their elders ; custom is 
often more potent than law ; and evil practices 
entail their consequences to far distant genera- 
tions. We need to learn that righteousness is a 
very concrete reality ; that it is as important to 
be righteous, that is, just, honest, trustworthy, 
in our daily work as in our religion on Sunday ; 
and that there can be no true kingdom of heaven 
on earth until people carry out into all the de- 
tails of practical conduct the spirit of genuine 
truthfulness. Our business must be moralized 
as thoroughly as any other phase of our modern 
complex life ; indeed, because it touches us all, 
every day, in many ways, affecting our health, 
our happiness, and the efficiency of our social 
institutions, we need to be even more particular 



Current Ethical Standards. 247 

about these ordinary aspects of honesty than 
about some of those remoter interests which often 
engage our attention. 

4. Our ethical standards in political affairs 
are probably open to severer criticism than any- 
where else. True, it is easy to indulge in whole- 
sale denunciation ; to charge public officials, 
right and left, with corruption ; to rail at parties, 
rings, and henchmen, and to blame the politicians 
for evils that our own neglect of civic duty is 
chiefly responsible for. Without being guilty of 
the sin of such unfairness, I think it is indisput- 
able that our prevalent ideals of political virtue 
are lower than those we cherish for private con- 
duct. We do not, as a people, expect men to 
apply the same principles to the conduct of the 
business interests of government, in city, state, or 
nation, that we apply to the management of our 
own affairs. For a single example, witness the 
difficulty with which civil-service reform has 
made headway. Our politicians generally simply 
do not believe that men ought to be as well 
trained, as competent, and as free from political 
influence for the public service as for posts of 
responsibility in industrial, mechanical, or com- 



248 The Spiritual Outlook. 

mercial pursuits. It is tacitly assumed that 
almost any one who can get himself elected or 
appointed is fit to hold office ; at least it is 
thought to be only fair that the successful party 
shall have the spoils when its turn comes, — all 
of which means practically that it is considered 
right or pardonable for a man to cheat the 
government if he gets a chance. 

Then, when we turn to see how jobbery has 
disgraced our public life at various times, how 
valuable franchises have been virtually given 
away for political favors, how the power of 
money has come to be the great menace in 
legislation, how the lobbyist is recognized as a 
legitimate agent for those wanting help from 
law-making bodies, and how the political boss, 
with the political machine, has come to be the 
real governor in our civic affairs, — when we 
ponder the significance of these facts, and reflect 
that, as the prophet said in ancient times, " my 
people love to have it so," we may see the force 
of the charge that our political ideals are low, 
our ethical standards for public life are not so 
true as those we insist upon in private matters. 
The revelations of corruption in the police de- 



Current Ethical Standards. 249 

partment of New York City, repeatedly made 
within the last decade, and now * more glaringly 
published than ever before ; and the recent dis- 
closures of official treachery in the granting of 
street railway franchises in Philadelphia, 2 are 
only extreme instances of the working of an evil 
spirit that threatens more or less every large city 
in the land. It is the power which this spirit 
has already gained among us that has called forth 
the remark from competent judges, that American 
municipalities are the worst governed in the 
world ; and it seems certain that here is to be 
the battle-ground of the immediate future on 
which the struggle between the public interest 
and private or corporate greed is to be mainly 
determined. Who can dream of its being rightly 
determined without the prevalence among the 
people of higher ideals of civic virtue than now 
generally obtain ? 

5. One more indication of unworthy ethical 
standards may be seen in a widespread callousness 
respecting vice and crime, together with an easy- 
going indifference to the fate of those who 

1 August, 1901. 

2 See "The World's Work," p. 1116, August, 1901. 



250 The Spiritual Outlook. 

commit them. Within the last few years how 
many lynchings, how many burnings at the stake, 
with horrible mutilations of the wretched victims 
of mob violence, have occurred, and how slightly 
these appalling outrages have stirred the indig- 
nation of the American people at large ! We 
read of them with startling frequency of late, 
but where are the signs of any popular protest 
against them ? Indeed, is there not sad reason 
to fear that they are more than half pardoned by 
society in general ? Again, who has cared very 
much about the practical disfranchisement of 
hundreds of thousands of Negroes in the South 
lately? Still further, who is greatly disturbed 
by the frightful evils of intemperance ; who tries 
seriously to resist the aggressions of the liquor 
traffic; who is particularly concerned with the 
fate of the drunkard, the libertine, or the harlot ? 
We hear men saying, in manner if not in word, 
" Let them alone; let them indulge their appetites 
and passions : they will kill themselves and get 
out of the way so much the sooner : you cannot 
do anything to reform them or to stop these lines 
of business." 

Such is a hint of the spirit of apathy and 



Current Ethical Standards. 251 

cynicism which one may detect in the attitude 
and conversation of large numbers of intelligent 
people to-day with reference to matters which 
ought to arouse the deepest moral concern. I 
will not undertake to account for it : perhaps it 
is partly due to the subtle influence of the evo- 
lutionary doctrine of the survival of the fittest, 
begetting the belief that it is really a good thing 
to let society rid itself of degenerates; and 
possibly it is partly due to the growth of the 
idea that we are a great, expanding, triumphant 
nation, manifestly destined to become a world- 
power; and if any inferior individuals or peo- 
ples stand in our way, it is to the interest of 
mankind in general that we should not be de- 
terred by any little scruples from wiping them 
out, or at least disposing of them to suit 
ourselves. Be the source of the feeling what 
it may, I think it unquestionable that it ex- 
ists ; and it indicates a certain deadness of the 
public conscience that is one of the gravest 
perils in our present otherwise prosperous civil- 
ization. It is not the occurrence of vice, cruelty, 
and crime that we need most to fear, but rather 
the nonchalance with which the better classes 



252 The Spiritual Outlook. 

of society regard such phenomena. There is our 
danger signal. 

Of course the foregoing paragraphs express 
only my own judgment, and I cannot claim that 
either my experience or my observation has been 
large enough to qualify me especially to form a 
guiding opinion. Let me, however, quote the 
words of a far more competent judge, who agrees 
with me that, taking the nineteenth century as 
whole, there has been a general moral advance, 
but who sees a marked retrogression during the 
last twenty-five years. I refer to Mr. Frederick 
Harrison, 1 who says : — 

"lama convinced believer in the gradual im- 
provement of civilization, when we judge it by areas 
and epochs sufficiently wide and typical. In all prog- 
ress there are oscillations, partial degenerations, 
and local or temporary ailments. But I must pro- 
fess my conviction — and I hear the same confessed 
by the best men and women, day by day — that our 
immediate generation has been sinking of late to 
meaner ideals, to coarser ways of life, to more vulgar 

1 " Christianity at the Grave of the Nineteenth Century," in 
the North American Review, December, 1900. 



Current Ethical Standards. 253 

types of literature and art, to more open craving 
after wealth, and a more insolent assertion of pride 
and force." * 

Now, if the description of our current ethical 
standards herewith given is fairly accurate, — 
and I think it wholly within the bounds of the 
truth in the case, — we are brought face to face 
with a most serious business for the teachers of 
religion. Recollecting that Christianity as Jesus 
Christ inculcated it contemplates the welfare of 
the race, and that it is fundamentally and vitally 
an ethical religion, never divorcing morality from 
worship, but making love to man equal co- 
partner with love to God, we can see at once 
these two dominant facts : First, that there can 
be no genuine development of our civilization 
that does not include the legitimate sway of the 
moral spirit ; and, second, that, if the Christian 
churches have any high mission to fulfil at pres- 
ent, it is to be the exponents of true ethical 
principles and ideals, however they may insist 
upon the interests of worship and theology. 

1 Mr. Harrison's entire article portrays the features and 
causes of this decline, and may fitly supplement what I have 
said by affording a wider view than I have sought to take. 



254 The Spiritual Outlook. 

1. It ought not to require argument in these 
days to show that no race can keep itself from 
decay that degenerates morally. Yet we need 
to drive this truth home just now with all the 
force at our command ; for the present genera- 
tion, though perhaps assenting to it theoretically, 
does not adequately feel it. The great lesson 
of history must be taught anew, and ever anew, 
namely, that righteousness is the only solid foun- 
dation upon which any individual or nation can 
build. A man may have health, riches, power, 
learning and skill ; but if he be not virtuous, that 
is, honest and pure, he will sooner or later come to 
grief. Dishonesty, intemperance, and licentious- 
ness will quickly eat the vitals out of any per- 
son's seeming prosperity ; there is no such thing 
as permanent success for one who continually 
violates the moral law. So it is with nations. 
Vice, corruption, unrighteousness in any form, if 
widespread and persistent, will bring any race, 
any government, any civilization, to ruin. We 
Americans must understand that numbers, power, 
wealth, intelligence, skill, even liberty and re- 
ligion, or all these combined, cannot save us 
without morality ; and if the spirit of righteous- 



Current Ethical Standards. 255 

ness be not kept supreme in the hearts of our 
people, nothing can insure the perpetuity of our 
beneficent institutions. These would be trite 
and impertinent remarks if they were not so 
sorely needed by the youth of the land. 

It is of the utmost importance that we should 
clearly recognize the defects in our present moral 
life, both public and private. We are confront- 
ing new and momentous questions. The indus- 
trial and economic developments of the last 
quarter of a century, together with the issues 
of our own recent war, and the events transpir- 
ing in remote parts of the world, have suddenly 
thrust upon us some of the most radical and 
difficult problems ever devolved upon a people 
for solution. Nearly all these problems, whether 
domestic or foreign, involve great moral princi- 
ples, — questions of right and wrong, the inter- 
ests of justice as between man and man, between 
class and class, between nation and nation. Is 
it not plain that we cannot hope to deal success- 
fully with any of these vast, concrete problems 
until we purify and rectify our moral vision? 
Unless we are able to see straight along moral 
lines, unless our ethical conceptions are clear 



256 The Spiritual Outlook. 

and sound, unless we recognize the binding 
force of the moral law in all our conduct, in all 
our relations, and therefore enthrone righteous- 
ness in our own hearts, how shall we presume 
to establish it in politics, industry, commerce, 
and our dealings with the subject peoples to 
whom the course of events has carried our 
government ? Hence I urge that no more seri- 
ous task awaits us to-day than to moralize the 
ideals of our people. We must outgrow our 
ethical adolescence. We must make our virtue 
commensurate with our development in other 
respects. Our problems at the opening of the 
new century are mainly moral problems; our 
dangers are chiefly moral dangers ; the principal 
strain upon our civilization is a moral strain; 
and the largest factor in our equipment for 
meeting the new emergencies is the thorough 
moral education of our people, the vital rein- 
forcement of the ethical spirit in all ranks of 
society. 

2. Here is a great task for the Christian 
churches. They are the purveyors of a form of 
religious teaching which includes morality as at 
least one-half of its life-giving message. But 



Current Ethical Standards. 257 

they have not adequately emphasized that half. 
They have been occupied mainly with ecclesias- 
tical, dogmatic, and devotional interests. Perhaps 
these things they ought to have done, but cer- 
tainly they ought not to have left the other 
undone. Unhappily the sway of the Augustinian- 
Calvinistic theology has tended distinctly to 
depreciate morality; and we must now begin 
to undo this mischief by insisting that morality 
is the very foundation of a true religious life, — 
not the superstructure, indeed, but assuredly 
the foundation. The churches themselves must 
first recognize this grand truth, and then in their 
religious teaching they must duly explicate the 
moral bearings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
From the pulpit, in the Sunday-school, and in 
the various minor gatherings of the people for 
instruction or inspiration, the vital, ethical im- 
plications of essential Christianity must be 
clearly and earnestly unfolded. What an op- 
portunity is here to educate the nation, to mould 
somewhat the character of the rising generation ! 
No other institution among us has a better 
chance. One-fifth of the people are directly 
reached by the churches; everybody expects 

17 



258 The Spiritual Outlook. 

them to be moral guides ; and they can drive 
home the great principles of righteousness with 
all the power of the holiest sanctions which the 
human soul ever acknowledges. Surely their 
responsibility is a solemn one. If they do not 
do this ethical work, where shall we look for its 
performance? Let every home, every school, 
every other agency join in it; yet all that the 
churches can do to help is most sorely needed 
if we are to balance our material and intellectual 
development by an adequate moral development. 
We frequently hear it suggested that the 
churches need a revival. I think the kind 
of revival they most need to-day is an ethical 
revival. There is a widely extended aesthetic 
revival taking place, as we may see in the 
growth of ritualism, and the observance of 
religious festivals, and all the adornments of 
worship ; and there are waves of devotionalism 
sweeping over the churches every now and then. 
What the Christian people of our time need 
most profoundly to feel is their moral respon- 
sibility for the welfare of society and the full 
establishment of righteousness in the earth. 
Until they do this, their sestheticism and their 



Current Ethical Standards. 259 

fervent piety will have little value. Unless 
Christianity, working through the Christian peo- 
ple, can somehow show itself able to cope with 
the concrete and mighty evils of our age, — war, 
intemperance, licentiousness, dishonesty, political 
corruption, the unjust aggressions of class against 
class, nation against nation, — how shall any man 
dare to stand up and say with St. Paul, " I am 
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is the 
power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth " ? 

The call of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to the 
people of the churches to-day is a call to a sterner 
moral conflict than they have engaged in for 
many a year, that religion may prove itself an 
ethical force, that Christian citizenship may be 
something more than a name, and that our 
civilization may be established and built up on 
the everlasting foundation of righteousness. 



THE SPIRITUAL ELEMENT IN 
SOCIAL SERVICE. 




THE SPIRITUAL ELEMENT IN 
SOCIAL SERVICE. 

ODERN philanthropy is a tree of life 
that has grown to very large propor- 
tions. It strikes its roots deep into the 
soil of human nature and history; it bears a 
great variety of fruits ; and its leaves are at least 
meant to be for the healing of the nations. To 
see how it has developed, why it flourishes, and 
what is its value, may help us to understand 
some of the larger meanings of the social phenom- 
ena of our time, may indicate in part the social 
function of religion, and may tend to co-ordinate 
our diverse endeavors to benefit the world. 

I think the most significant fact in the progress 
of civilization is the growing appreciation of 
human worth. Through the long ages man has 
been slowly but surely rising in his own esti- 
mation. Despite all pessimistic philosophies, he 
thinks more highly of himself to-day than ever 
before. He has come to a fuller consciousness 



264 The Spiritual Outlook. 

of his own inherent dignity, he understands him- 
self better, he respects himself more, he trusts 
himself further, than at any previous time. This 
is true, not only of an elect few, but of a rapidly 
increasing multitude of the so-called common 
people. Notwithstanding the hard conditions 
under which they maintain their existence, and 
the bitterness with which they sometimes com- 
plain about them, they really believe in the 
intrinsic value of the human soul, in the essential 
sacredness of life, and in the possibility of both 
individual and social improvement. Indeed, the 
very dissatisfaction with their lot which they so 
often keenly feel is a living witness to their 
profound conviction that human nature is worthy 
of something better. I know of nothing in the 
life of the vast masses of mankind that is at 
once more pathetic and more hopeful than the 
patience with which they endure what is and the 
tenacity with which they cling to the idea of 
what ought to be. That notion of " what ought 
to be " is a proof that our race has an instinctive 
sense of the important place, the honorable 
rank, which it occupies in the scale of nature ; 
and the growth of this feeling into a clear and 



Spiritual Element in Social Service. 265 

strong conception is the promise and potency of 
the greater advancement which it is yet to achieve 
in trying to make the world a paradise. 

If we seek the causes of this increasing appre- 
ciation of human worth, we shall doubtless find 
them to be many. Professor Henry S. Nash, 
in one of his vigorous books, 1 shows that the 
civilization of the Grseco-Roman world con- 
tributed very much to the development of the 
spirit of individualism by breaking the tyranny 
of antiquity through philosophy and law; but 
that it lacked the power to drive home this 
spirit to "the downmost man, ,, as he calls him. 
Then he shows that Christianity, inheriting and 
embodying Semitic conceptions, reinforced and 
supplemented this process with sufficient might 
to do just this thing, — to carry the sense of the 
worth of the individual man " down through 
the lowest stratum of society." Thereupon arose 
the social problem which has engaged the Western 
world ever since, — the problem of equality, 
liberty, and fraternity. Through terrible ordeals 
of strife and suffering these great principles have 
been wrought out and established in religion, 

1 Genesis of the Social Conscience. 



266 The Spiritual Outlook. 

government, education, and industry ; and the 
stupendous work is not yet finished. 

I believe Professor Nash is right in ascribing 
such a degree of importance to the influence of 
Christianity in propagating the truth of man's 
inherent worth. By proclaiming with passionate 
earnestness the existence of one only and true 
God, the God of righteousness and love, the 
Father of the spirits of all flesh, who cared 
enough for even the very weakest and wickedest 
of men to provide for their eternal salvation, this 
form of religious teaching brought to the most 
abject people an overwhelming sense of the 
preciousness of the human soul, which inspired 
them with dignity and hope, with fortitude and 
patience, with gratitude and consecration. By 
declaring that God had "concluded all in un- 
belief that he might have mercy upon all/ 5 this 
gospel wiped out the old baneful distinctions 
between Jew and Gentile, between male and 
female, between master and slave ; and it was 
so effectual in this work that it made these 
classes, who had hated or despised one an- 
other, sit down together at the communion 
table and learn to love one another. The marvel- 



Spiritual Element in Social Service. 267 

lous grace manifested in this spiritual dispensation 
begat a reciprocal goodness in all hearts that felt 
its power ; the sense of sin and the sense of Divine 
forgiveness melted all souls ; and an unwonted 
tenderness, sympathy, and helpfulness spang up 
spontaneously throughout the Christian society. 
These facts give us a hint of the spiritual forces 
which were set at work in social directions by 
primitive Christianity. Their influence has been 
operative ever since. Conjoined with much that 
was good in paganism, and later on with the 
genius of the Teutonic people for liberty, they 
have wrought steadily for the elevation of the 
multitude, for the removal of artificial barriers, 
for the abrogation of special privileges to the 
few, and for the extension of the fruits of civili- 
zation to the many. Thus helping the common 
individual man to higher attainments, Christianity 
has crowned him with glory and honor by making 
him feel himself a child of God, immortal and 
of unspeakable worth. Other factors have 
contributed to the same result, — notably edu- 
cation, and the gradual conquest of material 
nature; but I do not see how we can fail to 
assign a very important role to the Christian re- 



268 The Spiritual Outlook. 

ligion in effecting the enhancement of all human 
values. 

Now, there are three practical and significant 
bearings of this great fact that man has grown 
in worth so strikingly and esteems himself more 
highly to-day than ever before. 

1. It lays a basis for the establishment of 
human rights ; or, if it does not lay that basis, it 
strengthens it. If a man does not think much 
of himself, he will not claim much for himself. 
If he thinks of himself as a beast, the things of 
a beast will satisfy him ; but if he thinks of him- 
self as a child of God, made to live and grow 
forever, only those things which minister to the 
nobler side of his nature can be adequate to his 
needs. These things, he instinctively feels, really 
belong to him ; he deserves them ; he is worthy 
of them ; he ought to have them ; they become 
his rights. Then he demands them, then he 
fights for them, then he gets them — if he fights 
long and hard enough. Thus liberty, property, 
and political prerogatives are won by strenuous 
endeavor, often being forcibly wrested from the 
hands that wrongfully hold and withhold them. 
As the English people wrested their Great Char- 



Spiritual Element in Social Service. 269 

ter from King John at Runnymede, so has every 
man been obliged to struggle in some way for 
what he himself has acquired and added to the 
wealth of the world. The ability or disposition 
to struggle is directly inspired by whatsoever in- 
fluence, be it Christianity or education or native 
strength, really makes one conscious of his own 
inherent dignity and worthiness. If you take a 
poor dejected slave and teach him that he is 
a man, a child of God, an heir of immortality \ 
that he is endowed with powers and capacities 
which fit him for unlimited development; and 
that, if he will, he may work out for himself a 
noble destiny, — what must be the effect ? Why, 
if you make him feel deeply the truth of what 
you say, and if you awaken within him a burn- 
ing desire and a mighty determination to realize 
these high possibilities, he will inevitably and 
immediately want his freedom ; and, given his 
freedom, together with such a desire and deter- 
mination, he will accomplish through pain and 
sorrow a grand measure of self-advancement. 
So it has happened that the growing apprecia- 
tion of human worth, which Christianity has 
inculcated and which other influences have con- 



270 The Spiritual Outlook. 

firmed, has stimulated men to put forth their 
best endeavors to appropriate the blessings of 
freedom, wealth, and culture to which they have 
felt themselves entitled. u Son of man, stand 
upon thy feet, and I will speak to thee," is the 
message of the Divine Voice to every human 
being, calling him to self-respect, to a conscious- 
ness of personal dignity, to a longing for his full 
self-realization ; and whenever he hears that call 
sounding through the chambers of his soul, he 
begins to lift himself out of the dust, and then 
he begins to inherit the kingdom prepared for 
him from the foundation of the world. 

2. This awakened or increased sense of human 
worth lays or strengthens the foundation for 
social obligation. It makes a man recognize 
the rights of his fellow-man. Theodore Parker 
said that democracy means, not merely that I 
am as good as you are, but also that you are 
as good as I am. This is what Christianity 
means, what fraternity means, what humanity 
means. For the moment you recognize a man 
as a man, as belonging to the human cate- 
gory, that moment you will begin to be driven 
by an inexorable logic to recognize the fact that 



Spiritual Element in Social Service. 271 

he is entitled to all the natural and inherent 
rights of mankind. People have sometimes 
tried to escape this conclusion. Mr. Alexander 
H. Stephens wrote his inaugural address as 
Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy to 
proclaim the doctrine of the inequality of the 
races; to declare to the world that some por- 
tions of the human family are ordained to rule, 
and some to serve ; and thus to justify the insti- 
tution of African slavery. We have recently 
heard not a little talk to the same effect with 
reference to the inhabitants of the various islands 
that have lately come under American control ; 
and it is an old story as regards the relations, 
functions, and prerogatives of the sexes. But 
the " logic of events," which means the tremen- 
dous movement of history, has ground and will 
grind all such arguments to powder. Before the 
days of the Civil War it was proposed to abolish 
slavery in this country by buying the slaves. In 
the midst of the war, Ralph Waldo Emerson 
wrote : — 

" Pay ransom to the owner, 
And fill the cup to the brim. 
Who is the owner ? The slave is owner, 
And ever was. Pay him." 



272 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Those four lines punctured the fallacy of the 
ages, and struck to the heart of the great 
question of individual rights and social obli- 
gation. Whenever you recognize a man as a 
man, having the same powers and capacities as 
yourself, you must accord him all those essential 
rights and privileges which you find indispen- 
sable to your own true welfare. An awakened 
sense of the intrinsic value of the human soul, 
penetrating all ranks of society, compels such 
a recognition; and therefore it undoes the 
democracies of Greece, the empire of Rome, 
the monarchies of Europe, and the half-formed 
republic of America, by gradually extending the 
privileges of the few to become the common 
property of the many. 

Moreover it deserves to be noticed that only 
such a sense of human worth, compelling such 
a recognition of manhood, can establish a true 
sympathy between man and man. Sympathy 
that rests upon the idea of superiority and 
inferiority degenerates into pity, which nothing 
but holy love can save from becoming contempt. 
But sympathy that rests upon the idea of natural 
equality, that is, of a common spiritual nature be- 



Spiritual Element in Social Service. 273 

longing to all the children of men, involves the 
noble element of respect, which redeems all 
compassion with the spirit of fraternity. The 
poor man, the sick man, the slave, the drunkard, 
the criminal, is my fellow-man, my brother-man : 
therefore there is a natural bond of sympathy 
between him and me ; therefore the consider- 
ation which I extend to him must not be 
condescension or commiseration, but respect 
for his higher nature — not for what he is, 
but for what he might be — and a desire to 
see him realize his nobler possibilities. What 
shall keep social feeling from degenerating into 
class feeling, of one kind or another, but the 
spreading throughout all levels of society of the 
sense of man's inestimable spiritual worth, which 
nothing can utterly alienate; and what more 
mighty to beget and diffuse this conception than 
the gospel of Jesus Christ ? It is a fire which 
melts all hearts, and burns away all barriers, and 
fuses all our best feelings into one great, com- 
mon enthusiasm for humanity. 

3. This exalted, spiritualized appreciation of 
human worth, of the priceless value of every 
individual life, lays a sure foundation for social 

18 



274 The Spiritual Outlook. 

service. It at once makes you and me feel that 
we ought to help our fellow-men to realize the 
better life of which they are capable. What 
else shall do this? What shall justify the 
words of Jesus, " He that is great among you 
shall be your minister; and he that is chief 
among you shall be bond-servant of all " ? 
What shall inspire educated, refined, skilful, 
loving men and women to bind themselves out 
to the service of the ignorant, the weak, the 
friendless, the immoral, the criminal members of 
society? Shall mere pity, or the necessity of 
self-protection, or even the interest of future 
generations ? I think not. All these considera- 
tions must weigh, indeed; but above them all 
must rise the Christ-like conception of the 
preciousness of the human soul, — the implicit 
belief that all these needy children of men are the 
spiritual children of the living God, our brothers 
and sisters, whom we are to recognize as such, 
and to whom our Father bids us go in loving 
helpfulness, as He is ever coming to us. When 
we begin to think and feel in this way, we begin 
to understand and endorse Paul's words, " We 
then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities 



Spiritual Element in Social Service. 275 

of the weak, and not to please ourselves ; for 
eveii Christ pleased not himself." We see that 
we are set in the world, not to live for ourselves 
alone, but for all mankind : society means not 
only advantages, but responsibilities as well ; I 
am my brother's keeper to some extent ; the 
wrong which any man does belongs, not to him 
exclusively, but in some measure also to the 
social conditions in which the wrongdoer has 
grown up. We are all tied together like the 
meshes of a great network ; we are all members 
of one another in the social organism ; these 
members must have a care for one another and 
serve one another; and nothing that we have is 
too good for such use, nothing have we that is 
not required for social service. Thus wealth 
becomes a trust, learning and skill a talent, 
and ability of any kind an endowment, all of 
which are to be employed in the interests of 
humanity; and no child can be so weak, no 
woman so sinful, no man so brutal and wicked, 
as to be, in the Divine sight, unworthy of our 
help. 

There is a picture entitled " The Doctor," by 
an English artist, Luke Fildes. It represents a 



276 The Spiritual Outlook. 

noble physician sitting at the bedside of a sick 
child, whose life is evidently at a low ebb. The 
room and its furnishings indicate the humble 
circumstances of the family. The lamp on the 
table is so placed and shaded as to illumine the 
wan face of the little sufferer, while it shows 
the doctor to be a fine example of the splendid 
type of manhood which the medical profession so 
often affords, — mature, intelligent, skilful, with 
a strong character, and with a deep and tender 
sympathy held under perfect control. As he 
sits there, leaning forward and watching with 
quiet but earnest solicitude the faint symptoms 
of his patient's condition, we feel sure that, as 
long as a spark of life is left in the frail body, 
this great-hearted, able man will do all that 
human power can do to win back to health the 
poor little invalid over whom he broods with all 
his knowledge and love. It is an illustration of 
what I mean, of what I venture to think Jesus 
would mean, by social service ; the putting of 
the very highest manhood and womanhood of 
the nation at the service of the very weakest 
member of society, — the best teachers in our 
schools, the best preachers in our pulpits, the 



Spiritual Element in Social Service. 277 

most expert workers in our charitable societies, 
the highest talent available in our asylums, re- 
formatories, and prisons ; and withal it means 
that every man, according to his ability, shall 
give himself ungrudgingly to a life of usefulness 
and social helpfulness. 

I think it is very encouraging to see how 
earnestly the Christian Church in our day is 
laying this great lesson to heart. To her is com- 
mitted the oracle of this message for publication, 
and to her is first assigned the task of exempli- 
fying its truth. She has never entirely forgotten 
it ; but too often she has slighted it, too often 
she has been prone to think that she was set on 
earth, not to serve, but to rule mankind. But 
the spirit of her Founder's teaching is calling 
her back at present to a thoroughgoing recogni- 
tion of the fact that her business is to serve, — 
to serve God by serving His children, by helping 
the community and the world into the largest 
and highest life possible ; and we may be very 
sure that the church that does not seek to fulfil 
such a mission will soon become an anachronism, 
and will find its candlestick removed out of its 
place. 



278 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Conceding the essential truth of what has been 
thus far said, — that there has been a growing 
appreciation of human worth, that the Christian 
religion has powerfully promoted this growth, 
and that the spiritual conceptions involved in 
this development have helped to lay a basis for 
the establishment of individual rights, have 
strengthened the foundations of social obliga- 
tion, and have justified the great principle and 
duty of social service, — the question next arises : 
How shall we undertake to help our fellow-men ? 
Admitting the rightfulness of the demand upon 
us, how shall we meet it ? Granting that our 
task is assigned us of God, how shall we per- 
form it? 

It is not my purpose to elaborate the answer, 
but I must at least state the central and most 
vital truth which it contains, namely, That we are 
to render our best service to our fellow-men by 
evoking in them the most resolute self-activity of 
which they are capable. Not to do things for 
them, but to help them do things for them- 
selves ; not to give them money, but to afford 
them opportunities for earning money; not to 
impart information to them, but to teach them 



Spiritual Element in Social Service. 2/9 

how to acquire knowledge ; in a word, not to 
make them dependent, but to aid them into in- 
dependence, — this is the great guiding principle 
for all true philanthropy. Without this principle 
our philanthropy may do more harm than good, for 
it violates that fundamental law of nature which 
ordains incessant and severe struggle as the in- 
exorable condition of all true attainment. The 
most and best that you and I can do for our 
brother-man is to be brotherly, to remove hin- 
drances, to open opportunities, to incite him to 
self- exertion, and to cheer him with the spirit of 
faith, hope, and love ; then he must work out his 
own salvation with fear and trembling, or there 
can be no salvation for him. This is what we 
are learning to do here in America; it is the 
supreme lesson of democracy as well as of Chris- 
tianity. This is what we must do for Cuba, Porto 
Rico, the Philippine Islands, and all the other 
backward peoples whom we may touch. It is 
what Booker T. Washington is trying to do for 
the Negro ; it is what we all must seek to do for 
each one of God's lowly children with whom we 
come in contact. Thus shall we build securely a 
higher civilization than the world has yet seen, 



280 The Spiritual Outlook. 

in which individualism and socialism shall be 
harmonized, and the dream of equality shall pass 
into the glorious reality of fraternity. 

" And each shall care for other, 
And each to each shall bend, 
To the poor a noble brother, 
To the good an equal friend." l 

1 Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



CHRISTIAN CO-OPERATION, OR THE NEW 
ALIGNMENT OF THE CHURCHES. 




CHRISTIAN CO-OPERATION, OR THE NEW 
ALIGNMENT OF THE CHURCHES. 

||HE review of spiritual phenomena 
which has thus far engaged our atten- 
tion is calculated to show where the 
nineteenth century has landed us in respect to 
religious interests. It has been conducted as 
widely and carefully as possible under the cir- 
cumstances, with a constant effort to discern by 
clear insight and just interpretation the better 
meaning of the great changes and developments 
which our age has witnessed ; and it would seem 
as if the resulting impression upon our minds 
must be distinctly encouraging. It has revealed 
the working efficiency and the permanent su- 
premacy of the vital essentials of Christianity, 
while proving that its non-essentials and the 
errors which get attached to it may fall away 
without harm ; and it has renewed our faith in 
the capacity of the human race for assimilating 
its increasing acquisitions of knowledge, wealth, 



284 The Spiritual Outlook. 

and power, and for transmuting them by a divine 
alchemy into spiritual gold. 

Now, among the various gratifying features 
which this review discloses, none is more promising 
perhaps than that w r hich forms the staple of 
thought for the present chapter. The growth 
of the spirit of Christian co-operation is one of 
the striking facts of our day. No other fact 
indicates more surely the wide difference between 
the end of the nineteenth century and the end 
of the eighteenth, as regards religion ; and certainly 
I can think of no other fact that is fuller of 
hopeful augury for the beginning of the twentieth 
century. Let us try to see how it has come 
about. 

1. Glancing far backwards once more, and 
reading history in the light of to-day, we can 
easily understand now that it was inevitable 
that there should be an era of sectarian strife. 
Remember that the ancient Romans had a genius 
for government, — that they were a mighty, con- 
quering, administrative people, who exemplified 
the great twofold principle of authority and sub- 
mission in the establishment and conduct of an 
all-embracing social order; remember that the 



Christian Co-operation. 285 

Roman Catholic Church, succeeding to the place 
of the fallen Empire in the virtual control of 
Europe, inherited this genius and exemplified 
it anew in upbuilding the great ecclesiastical 
fabric whose dominion was unbroken for a 
thousand years ; remember that underneath that 
fabric lay certain philosophical interpretations of 
the gospel, which the Roman Church had ac- 
cepted and which it imposed upon the people, 
century after century, by the sheer exercise of its 
tremendous authority ; and remember that it was 
in this way that the dogmatic temper was indeli- 
bly stamped upon the rising European nations, 
and so came to leave its impress upon our whole 
Western civilization. If therefore we complain 
of the undue influence of dogmatism in our 
modern religious life, and mourn the baneful 
effects of theological controversy during the last 
three or four hundred years, let us not forget to 
place the responsibility for it where it belongs, 
namely, back in the Middle Age, in the soul of 
the Roman Catholic Church. 

You can see that a violent disruption of this 
dogmatic-ecclesiastical dominion was bound to 
come soon or late, and we know that it did come 



286 The Spiritual Outlook. 

in the form of the Protestant Reformation. But 
you can see also that the dogmatic spirit, so 
deeply ingrained in the most sacred thoughts 
and feelings of the people, could not be eradicated 
in a day; and we know that it continued to 
assert itself, in Protestantism as well as in Ro- 
manism, and has sadly embittered the Christian 
history of our part of the world ever since that 
great crisis. Against this dogmatic spirit — 
narrow, hard, domineering — the spirit of liberty, 
which really generated the whole Protestant 
movement, has had to struggle even down to our 
own time. Accordingly modern history has been 
a battle-field whereon has occurred many a 
conflict of church with church, of system with 
system, accompanied by division and subdivision, 
and resulting in confusion, perplexity, and untold 
sorrow. 

But now at length we are nearing the end 
of this controversial era. The spirit of liberty 
has won the day in opposition to the spirit of 
dogmatism. The principle of authority has gone 
down before the principle of individual rights. 
Henceforth it is possible for men to think dif- 
ferently on religious questions and still live in 



Christian Co-operation. 287 

social peace, even within the same church. We 
have learned the great lesson of religious tolera- 
tion — or, I prefer to say, the lesson of mutual 
respect. Thanks to those who have fought this 
good fight for us, we can agree to disagree, and 
speak our honest thought, and stand together as 
fellow-helpers to the truth. So we are reaching 
the close of this long, painful chapter of sectarian 
strife, and every generous heart is glad. It had 
to be w T ritten, in tears and blood, and we shall 
not forget its solemn admonitions ; but now we 
are happy to go on with the new chapter that 
waits to be written in the new century. 

2. Side by side with the waning of these old 
influences, including both the spirit of dogmatic 
authority and the spirit of excessive indepen- 
dence which it provoked into opposite assertion, 
there has taken place a remarkable growth of 
the idea of universal human brotherhood and 
of the sense of social interdependence. Travel 
and commerce have become world-wide ; trade 
tends everywhere to increasing freedom, in spite 
of reactionary policies; the telegraph and the 
newspaper have made all the nations of the 
earth next-door neighbors. Modern business 



288 The Spiritual Outlook. 

methods and financial systems are very compli- 
cated and delicate, and are wonderfully sensitive 
to whatever affects confidence between man and 
man. International relationships and cosmopoli- 
tan interests are the dominant notes in the poli- 
tics of nearly all the leading governments of the 
world to-day. An enlarged knowledge of the 
various branches of the human family has con- 
firmed the thought of the solidarity or essential 
unity of mankind, — so that we can say now, 
with an intelligence which even St. Paul did not 
possess, that society is a body of which, " whether 
one member suffer, all the members suffer with 
it ; or whether one member be honoured, all the 
members rejoice with it." 

Superadded to these natural forces developing 
the idea of universal human brotherhood, there 
has been the explicit teaching of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ to the same effect. By simply in- 
culcating the exalted and beautiful doctrine of 
the universal Fatherhood of God, this religion 
has steadily educated its disciples to a recogni- 
tion of its great practical corollary in the doctrine 
that all men are brethren, and therefore should 
dwell together in a fraternal spirit. Unhappily 



Christian Co-operation. 289 

these main truths of Christianity have been too 
often overlooked by those who have magnified 
other and secondary notions, and so they have 
not always been duly impressed upon the popu- 
lar mind; but now at length, as we begin to 
right ourselves and recover our true bearings, 
we are beginning to perceive the vastness and 
the wide application of this twofold spiritual 
postulate of the Divine Paternity and the uni- 
versal human fraternity. And, as might be ex- 
pected, the Christian Church itself, teaching this 
comprehensive and fundamental lesson, is among 
the first to begin to feel its force ; and so we are 
seeing, in all its branches, the blossoming of this 
blessed and promising thought, that we are all 
one, since we all have one Father, since one God 
hath created us, and therefore all artificial dis- 
tinctions must be obliterated in our treatment of 
one another. 

Meanwhile the new science of sociology, bring- 
ing up from the depths of our common life a mul- 
titude of facts, and interpreting them in the light 
of the fullest knowledge, is corroborating and 
emphasizing this whole grand conception of 
social interdependence and social responsibility. 

19 



290 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Thus we stand on the threshold of the twentieth 
century equipped with a mighty working truth 
which Christendom has scarcely appreciated so 
fully since the days of the apostles. 

3. Another set of facts has driven thoughtful 
Christians to a serious study of the evils of com- 
petition. Under the influence of the controver- 
sial spirit not only have sects multiplied, but 
churches of each sect have multiplied also. As a 
result, our villages and cities have been crowded 
with small, feeble, inefficient churches, that have 
been located without much reference to one 
another, and have labored quite independently 
of one another. Indeed, in far too many in- 
stances they have actually rivalled one another, 
not in seeking to serve the community, but in 
striving to get one another's members. While 
proselytism is not so common in our day as it 
has been in some other eras, still how frequently 
we detect a note of jubilation among the people 
of a given church when a person from another 
church comes among them ! They are glad even 
to take the children from another Sunday-school, 
and in fact will send the minister and the super- 
intendent and the calling committee after them 



Christian Co-operation. 291 

upon the slightest pretext. To such lengths 
does the spirit of church competition carry good 
people; and how humiliating is the spectacle to 
a large-minded man ! 

Sensible people are getting weary of all this 
folly. They see what an enormous waste of 
energy, material and spiritual, accrues from the 
incessant struggle to plant and maintain a mul- 
titude of little, weak, rival churches throughout 
this country. Not only the new towns of the 
West, but the older hamlets of the East bear 
witness to this unwisdom and prodigality in 
either an excessive supply of churches that do 
manage to live somehow, or in one or more that 
have died in the struggle for existence. And in 
nearly all our large cities the multiplicity of such 
small churches, each hoping of course to become 
large, has kept a pretty close pace with the 
growth of population, — so that our cities, as 
well as our villages, are overstocked with feeble, 
competing churches, consuming more of the 
people's substance than ought to be required to 
carry on the work of Christianity in the world. 

But the worst aspect of the matter is the 
failure of all these churches to cultivate the 



292 The Spiritual Outlook. 

social field thoroughly. Notwithstanding their 
number, variety, and large expenditures, they do 
not reach and help the people as they should. 
Thousands upon thousands are overlooked ; a 
considerable percentage even of those who are 
enrolled as members of one or another church, 
or who are nominal sympathizers with some 
phase of Christianity, are not effectually reached ; 
and evils of the most deadly character-— saloons, 
gambling-dens, houses of infamy — spring up in 
the very midst of these agencies, and flourish 
like noxious weeds in the garden of the Lord. 
It is simply inevitable that it should be so under 
the existing method, for two reasons : first, be- 
cause each church, " looking out for number 
one," is primarily or largely concerned about 
getting supporters, and therefore seeks to locate 
itself where the conditions appear most favor- 
able to this end, without much regard to other 
churches already stationed in the same district ; 
and, second, because there is no adequate appre- 
ciation of the fact that the churches need to help 
one another in a common warfare upon the com- 
mon enemy, evil, and in a wise, constructive 
ministry to the entire community in which they 



Christian Co-operation. 293 

stand. Accordingly, as long as the competitive 
policy is pursued, we shall see church-individual- 
ism emphasized, each church caring mainly for 
its own welfare, the more prosperous sections of 
our cities over-supplied with churches, while the 
poorer sections are neglected or abandoned to 
" missions " and other secondary agencies, mul- 
titudes of people unattached to centres of reli- 
gious activity because these are not established 
upon any comprehensive plan, and the institu- 
tions of unrighteousness thriving abundantly be- 
cause there is no great, organized moral force 
which they fear. And it is because enlightened 
men and women are perceiving this outcome as 
both deplorable and inevitable, under the regime 
that has prevailed hitherto, that they are be- 
ginning to consider the possible advantages of 
Christian co-operation. 

In these three ways, then, — through the wan- 
ing of sectarian strife, through the growth of the 
idea of human brotherhood and the sense of 
social responsibility, and through the unhappy 
consequences of excessive competition among 
the churches, — there has come about a wide- 
spread demand for co-operative effort along all 



294 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the main lines of Christian enterprise. It is 
being felt to-day as never before that the su- 
preme business of the Christian Church, in all 
its branches, is not so much to fit men for life in 
the next world as to establish the kingdom of 
heaven here ; and that to this end the really 
great Christian conflict is not the conflict of 
church with church, of creed with creed, how- 
ever erroneous some may be, but rather the con- 
flict of all churches and all positive virtue with 
moral evil and unspirituality. 

Now, arising out of this fresh, strong feeling, 
which has grown up during the last half-century, 
increasing with each decade, there have been 
realized already several forms of practical Chris- 
tian co-operation which are doing great good. 
The Evangelical Alliance, the Young Men's and 
the Young Women's Christian Associations, the 
International Sunday-School Commission, the 
Liberal Congress of Religion, the Interdenomi- 
national Missionary Conference, — these, and 
others that might be named, have been con- 
spicuous expressions of this new spirit in mod- 
ern Protestant Christendom ; and they have been 



Christian Co-operation. 295 

fruitful, not only of pleasure and inspiration to 
their participants, but of wise suggestions, plans, 
and activities for the actual conduct of Christian 
work. 

It is this same holy, spontaneous, and judi- 
cious spirit that underlies the earnest and very 
general desire for Christian unity, about which 
much has been said in recent years. While, un- 
doubtedly, it has been urged by Pope Leo XIII. 
partly for ecclesiastical reasons, because the 
Church of Rome ever seeks to bring the rest 
of Christendom into harmony with itself, yet it 
would be mere cavilling at him and the great 
cause not to believe that he feels the folly of 
division and the sin of strife as keenly as any 
other intelligent man. Millions not of his fold 
share this feeling with him. The waste of re- 
sources and the inefficiency of the work, as well 
as the discord and spiritual losses, resulting from 
the rivalry of sects, have intensified the convic- 
tion among thoughtful people of all denomina- 
tions that some better principle than competition 
can be found, and that this principle must lead 
at least to " the unity of the spirit in the bond 
of peace;" and therefore various attempts have 



296 The Spiritual Outlook. 

been made to discover a basis upon which the 
divided Church may reunite its sundered mem- 
bers. It must be acknowledged that no such 
adequate basis has yet been proposed ; and per- 
haps the general discussion of the subject thus 
far may be fairly summed up by saying that it 
has resulted in establishing, quite clearly, these 
two conclusions, namely: first, that formal, or- 
ganic union, upon any old ground of doctrinal 
or ecclesiastical uniformity, is impracticable for 
the present at least, and probably for all time to 
come ; and, second, that, nevertheless, co-opera- 
tion among the churches is greatly to be desired 
for the efficient service of mankind, and that it 
must be possible to secure this in some wise and 
just way, with due regard to the great principle 
of freedom of thought. However important 
organic union may be deemed, — and it will 
doubtless continue to be an ideal ardently cher- 
ished by some of the Master's most devoted fol- 
lowers, — it has become increasingly plain that 
it must be conceived as a goal rather than as a 
beginning, and that one of the very first steps in 
the long pathway that may lead to it must be 
co-operation in the spirit of brotherliness and 



Christian Co-operation. 297 

human helpfulness. Hence the consideration 
of the question of Christian unity has served, 
not only to express the growing desire for Chris- 
tian co-operation, but to emphasize the need 
of it, and in some measure to prepare the way 
for it. 

A more promising product of this new spirit 
is springing up in the voluntary association of 
churches for practical work. Taking the existing 
churches of a given community just as they are, 
and federating them through some central co- 
ordinating agency, not upon the basis of doc- 
trinal agreement or the acknowledgment of any 
ecclesiastical authority, but upon the basis of a 
common, earnest desire to overcome evil with 
good, and a determination to try to make the 
principles and spirit of Christ's teaching actually 
triumphant in society, we get a form of Chris- 
tian co-operation that seems feasible and hopeful. 
Somewhat as the Charity Organization Society 
of a particular city associates the various existing 
charitable or philanthropic agencies therein, and 
initiates enterprises that appear to be needed, 
and seeks constantly to subserve the interests of 
the entire community by helping all these be- 



298 The Spiritual Outlook. 

nevolent activities ; so a society or committee 
is created to associate or federate or organize 
the churches, by correlating their scattered, in- 
dependent labors, by furnishing them with infor- 
mation and advice, and by seeking simply to help 
them help one another in the great work of pro- 
moting the Christian religion and an improved 
social order. This is what the federation of 
churches means, — interdenominational, non-sec- 
tarian, practical Christian co-operation. We have 
it occasionally and spasmodically in temperance 
effort, and in seasons of so-called evangelistic 
labor ; but we ought to have it continually and 
steadfastly in all kinds of common, helpful work 
in the moral and religious service of mankind. 

The most prominent instance of such church 
federation in America is in New York City. In 
the year 1895 some of the leading citizens of 
the metropolis, both lay and clerical, of various 
denominations, formed a society to be known as 
"The Federation of Churches and Christian 
Workers in New York City." Its object was 
declared to be " to bring the organized intelli- 
gence and love of" the " churches to bear upon 
the material, social, economic,, civic, and spiritual 



Christian Co-operation. 299 

interests of the family life of " the " city, and 
through interdenominational conference and co- 
operation to meet its every religious and moral 
need." This object was to be effected by the 
following threefold method : — 

" (1) By a thorough investigation of various sec- 
tions of the city, in co-operation with the churches 
in such sections, for the purpose of obtaining data 
on which to base an accurate knowledge of the social 
life and of the churches, in order to determine action 
appropriate and necessary to secure the well-being of 
the home-life of each section. 

" (2) By the co-operation of the Federation with 
existing agencies to meet the needs disclosed. 

" (3) By stimulating the creation of new agencies 
wherever existing agencies" might "prove in- 
adequate." 

" Each church in New York City " was to " be 
represented in the Federation by its pastor and two 
lay members — one man and one woman." l 

Upon this wise plan work was begun, and 
the sociological canvasses of the Fifteenth, 
Seventeenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-First As- 

1 Constitution, p. 15. 



300 The Spiritual Outlook. 

sembly Districts, whose tabulated results have 
been published by the Federation, have been 
extremely valuable. For a thorough understand- 
ing of the nature, scope, and worth of the inves- 
tigations thus conducted, the reader must consult 
the various reports ; but the condensed state- 
ments herewith subjoined will give a hint of the 
conditions disclosed and the information fur- 
nished for the benefit of all concerned, and will 
clearly indicate the necessity for some such 
federated activity. 

1. "One District" — the immediate vicinity of 
First Street to Fifth Street and Avenue A to Third 
Avenue — " with a population of 16,391 bodies has 
one saloon to every 111 inhabitants, and one church 
to every 8,196. . . . Each of these churches has at 
least 7,000 persons outside of its clientele whom it 
cannot possibly reach by even its indirect in- 
fluences." * 

2. Another district, bounded by Canal Street, 
Broadway, East Houston, and Bowery, with a 
population of 28,266, has 179 saloons and 3 

1 The substance of this and the accompanying statements is 
given by the Chairman, Rev. Dr. J. W. Hegeman. 



Christian Co-operation. 301 

churches; or one saloon to every 158 persons, 
and one church to every 9,422. " Beyond the 
reach of these churches are 8,000 souls for each 
church/' 

3. "In the third district the situation is worst of 
all. Among 49,359 inhabitants there is one saloon 
to every 208, one church to every 9,872. With such 
a ratio, what are our churches going to do to save 
our city ] Such evidence that these people do not 
want the church is the very reason why the churches 
should distribute their full energy among them so as 
to cause them to want a church. ... In this one 
parish 27,000 souls beyond the touch of the 
churches ! " 

4. " We have made special investigations of a sec- 
tion on the west side of the city uptown. This sec- 
tion includes the old Ninth, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, 
and Seventeenth Assembly Districts, containing 
about 200,000 inhabitants. The churches distrib- 
uted there are 7 Baptist, 1 Lutheran, 9 Methodist, 

6 Presbyterian, 5 Reformed and United Presbyterian, 

7 Episcopal, 12 Eoman Catholic, and 9 other denom- 
inations. Every church or chapel is worked to its 
utmost, and yet there are more than 100,000 souls 
beyond the reach of all these churches. 

" In a section between Twenty-fourth and Fifty- 



302 The Spiritual Outlook. 

ninth Streets, west of Eighth Avenue, there is but one 
church to 10,561 of the population. In the same, 
west of Ninth Avenue, one church to 14,850. West 
of Tenth Avenue, one to 31,926. West of Tenth 
Avenue, between Fortieth and Sixty-fourth Streets, 
there is only one church. Here are 46,563 people 
living in that district." 

5. "It is said that between Eighty-sixth and One 
hundred and thirty-eighth Streets, east of Fifth Av- 
enue, there are 223,000 souls, and that a certain de- 
nomination has but one church in that district. In 
the same district, west of Fifth Avenue " — that is, in 
a much more prosperous region — " there are 72,000 
souls, and this denomination has nine churches among 
them ! " 

" When throughout the city you trace the direct 
and indirect influences of church life upon the people, 
you find a churchless population as large as the city 
of Brooklyn. " 

6. Moreover there is abundant evidence to 
prove that, by this policy of church-individualism, 
even under the best of circumstances, each de- 
nominational church fails to reach a large per- 
centage of its own sympathizers. The New 
York Federation's report x for the Twenty-First 

1 Issued in 1899. 



Christian Co-operation. 303 

■ ■ 

Assembly District, lying mainly between Central 
Park and the Hudson River, says : — 

" Kornan Catholicism, therefore, in the Twenty- 
First Assembly District has an efficiency of 87.8 % 
in discovering and attaching to homes of worship its 
people, while entire Protestantism has an efficiency 
of only 51.7 %, and no phase of it reaches an efficiency 
of above 80 %, except Reformed Presbyterianism 
and the Disciples, which together number only 26 
families; while the phase of it attracting 100 families 
or over that reaches the highest percentage of 
efficiency, the Baptist body, scales only 66.1 %, 
and the lowest efficiency is shown by Congrega- 
tionalism with less than 30 %. 

" It is quite apparent . . . that the efficiency of 
the Protestantism of the District is not due to lack 
of means ; for the strong Episcopal churches of the 
district have 45.4 % of their people without a church 
home, whereas the financially weak Baptist churches 
of the district have only 33 % of their people without 
a church home. Well-to-do Presbyterianism, with 
$1,100,000 worth of unencumbered property, still 
has 34.4 % of its people without a church home." 

Other figures might be cited to show that 
substantially similar ratios exist in the efficiency 



304 The Spiritual Outlook. 

of the various churches in reaching and holding 
their children through the Sunday-school. 

The foregoing facts reveal an unsystematic, 
unequal, and inadequate distribution of the 
Christian churches in a great city, together with 
a high degree of inefficiency on the part of many 
of these churches in reaching their own people ; 
and they quite clearly prove that church-in- 
dividualism is not a successful method of wisely 
stationing the centres of Christian activity in a 
dense population. Plainly, therefore, something 
is needed to supplement the principle of au- 
tonomy, in order to prevent the evil results 
which appear to be inevitable without it. This 
" something" is supervision, — the allying, align- 
ing, and directing, in a comprehensive spirit and 
plan, of the constructive forces of the entire 
community. Such oversight, headship, general- 
ship, it is the object of the Federation of 
Churches to supply. It is simply a form of 
voluntary co-operation that seeks to express the 
combined wisdom and devotion of all the 
churches through some central agency that 
undertakes to subserve the interests of all by 
intelligently co-ordinating their efforts. 



Christian Co-operation. 305 

Since the organization of the New York 
Federation, the idea has spread widely, and 
has already borne fruit in the formation of 
similar movements in many cities, in a num- 
ber of States, and in a National Federation, 
effected at Philadelphia, February 5 and 6, 
1901. 1 Without going into details in any case, 
and without describing the significant though 
somewhat different work in England, it will be 
well now to present concisely the ruling concep- 
tions involved in this new phase of practical 
Christian co-operation, and to point out the large 
field and the urgent call for its operations. 

1. There is a recognition, tacit if not explicit, 
of the essential unity already existing in the 
Christian Church. In time past so much has 
been said about divisions and differences, and so 
much account has been made of doctrinal or 
ecclesiastical disagreements, that people gen- 
erally have failed to appreciate the larger unity 
which has actually prevailed in spite of all 
sectarianism and controversy. But now it 

1 For particular information respecting these, see the first 

issue of ' 4 The Federation Chronicle/' April, 1901, 83 Bible 

House, New York. 

20 



306 The Spiritual Outlook. 

begins to be clear that the Christian Church 
is, after all, one Church of Jesus Christ, — one 
Tree of Life having, of course, many branches ; 
and if it bears various kinds of fruit, it is be- 
cause in its growth among the nations, through 
the ages, there have been numerous grafts : but 
it is one Tree still, with one life-giving sap flow- 
ing through its veins, and subsisting by divine 
power in the one common soil of human nature. 
" For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether 
we be bond or free ; and have been all made to 
drink into one Spirit." 1 This one spirit is the 
Christian spirit, the Christ-like spirit ; and it is 
only fair to admit that it is possessed in some 
measure by every branch and twig and leaflet 
of this great Tree of Life. The frank and joyful 
recognition of such possession is not only an 
indispensable prerequisite to Christian ^-opera- 
tion, but also one of the crowning triumphs of 
the influence of the gospel in human life. 

2. There is a growing conviction that this 
spiritual unity is quite sufficient for practical co- 
operation in the main things that concern the 

1 1 Cor. xii. 13. 



Christian Co-operation. 307 

churches in common. Doctrinal agreement and 
ecclesiastical uniformity are not essential, except 
for subordinate purposes. The churches of the 
country should be like the schools of the country, 
— each working in its own way, each animated 
by the Spirit of Truth, each inspiring its members 
to further researches and attainments ; but all 
sharing with one another whatever new light may 
be received, and all co-operating to advance the 
welfare of mankind. It is the vital motive and 
the high purpose that really unify, and that 
should be considered as unifying ; and all the rest 
should be left secondary, for such varied regula- 
tion as diverse groups may determine. It should 
be enough for Christians to acknowledge them- 
selves disciples, that is, pupils, of the one Great 
Teacher, Jesus Christ ; to leave one another per- 
fectly free to learn as best they may ; to recognize 
and honor all who look for light and try to follow 
it ; and to co-operate gladly with any who seek to 
promote the vital interests of the kingdom of 
heaven, however imperfectly it may seem to be 
done in many cases. 

3. There is an increasing apprehension of the 
thought that the business of the Christian 



308 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Church, in all its branches, is to bear fruit, — as 
Jesus himself said, " Herein is my Father glori- 
fied, that ye bear much fruit ; so shall ye be my 
disciples." 1 It is set in the world to do the 
Master's work, by teaching and serving mankind 
in all helpful, Christ-like ways. It is not ordained 
to rule ; it is ordained to serve. It is not to be 
ministered unto ; it is to minister, and to give its 
life a ransom for many. It does not exist for its 
own sake, but for the sake of human welfare. 
Its characteristic, dominant spirit must always 
be the spirit of service. 

4. In order that the various churches may 
adequately serve mankind by serving the com- 
munity in which they stand, they must work 
together; their diverse activities must be co- 
ordinated ; they must have some sort of practical 
direction. The Roman Catholic churches have 
such supervision by virtue of their organic in- 
clusion in the great Ecclesiastical System which 
governs each and all with absolute authority 
and with marvellous efficiency. But the Prot- 
estant Churches have no such general organi- 
zation or oversight ; hence their multiplicity, their 

1 John xv. 8. 



Christian Co-operation. 309 

haphazard efforts, their weakness, and the large 
degree of failure that attends them. Their great 
need is comprehensive administration; in other 
words, co-ordination and direction ; and this calls, 
not indeed for a central authority, but for a 
central service, — a cabinet of information and 
counsel, that shall seek to unify and guide all by 
subserving all rather than by dictating to any. 

Such co-ordination and direction, however, 
must be voluntary ; there must be a free asso- 
ciation for mutual help in the work of social 
betterment; and the autonomy of each co-op- 
erating church must be duly respected. That is 
to say, the supervision which Protestantism needs 
must be consonant with the nature of Protest- 
antism, — it must be voluntary and not compul- 
sory, and it must aim to serve and not to rule 
the churches. We secure some such adminis- 
tration in political, civil, and industrial matters ; 
why not as readily in the practical affairs of 
religious work ? 

5. This general, co-ordinating supervision im- 
plies that behind each individual church there 
should stand the sanction and power of all the 
churches in the community, be it a city, a village, 



310 The Spiritual Outlook. 

or a rural neighborhood ; that churches should be 
stationed in the community after counsel and 
advice representing the united churches ; and that 
consolidation of churches may take place, some- 
times, upon such counsel and with such advice, 
to the advantage of all concerned. 

It also implies that each church, thus stationed 
and morally supported, should be put in charge 
of a certain field, besides its own members drawn 
from anywhere ; that it should know thoroughly 
its own district, and should care faithfully for it 
in all respects concerning its moral and spiritual 
welfare, — knowing the number of families re- 
siding therein, where they live, how they live, 
their religious attachments or the lack of them, 
as well as the helpful and the baneful influences 
at work within the territory ; and that it should 
seek, by the aid of the counsel of the advisory 
board or federative committee back of it, to 
foster constructive agencies tending to lift the 
life of the whole section slowly but steadily to a 
higher level. 

Thus it appears that throughout the arrange- 
ment the interests of the community are made 
paramount to those of the church ; and all the 



Christian Co-operation. 311 

forces of all the churches are marshalled with 
reference to the most efficient service of the 
whole people. 

Now, looking at this scheme in a broad 
way, we see that what we have here is really a 
proposition for a new alignment of the churches. 
Hitherto they have ranged themselves in denomi- 
national groups, large and small, along lines of 
doctrinal or ecclesiastical demarcation, being set 
off from one another by questions of creed or of 
polity or perchance of ritual ; nor is it too much 
to say that they have been antagonistic to one 
another quite as frequently as they have been 
friendly, and that the interests of society at large 
have suffered while they have striven about non- 
essential issues. But now at length we have the 
first-fruits of a new spirit, the spirit of Christian 
co-operation, frankly avowed, boldly proclaimed, 
and realized in a wise federation of Christian 
forces, not so much for the propagation of any 
dogma or the upbuilding of any institution as for 
the promotion of the moral and spiritual welfare 
of all mankind, and for the upbuilding of each in- 
dividual into some measure of the Christ-like char- 



312 The Spiritual Outlook. 

acter. Is it not a hopeful augury ? Does it not 
show that Protestantism is profiting by its expe- 
rience, and is on the way to complete its develop- 
ment by supplying its own deficiencies? And 
what must it not mean for the good of any 
city or village or commonwealth when all the 
Christian churches begin thus earnestly to co- 
operate for the overthrow of evil and the estab- 
lishment of concrete righteousness ! Surely it 
marks the dawn of a new day for modern Chris- 
tendom that this holy and wise spirit has risen 
upon the churches with healing in its wings. 
God speed it onward ! 

The logical outcome of the principle herein 
considered, when fully developed and thoroughly 
applied, will be the supplanting of our present 
unsystematic multiplication of denominational 
churches, many of which must be small and 
feeble, by a Protestant Parochial System, some- 
what similar to the Roman Catholic system, 
yielding a few large and strong churches, each 
having a staff of clergy and trained workers, and 
stationed with reference to the needs of the 
population. As things now are, the numerous 



Christian Co-operation. 313 

small churches cannot have ministers of first- 
class abilities, and are compelled to wage an 
incessant life-and-death struggle for a mere ex- 
istence, while costing their constituents more 
per family than larger and better churches do. 
Withal the impression which such churches make 
upon the community is not powerful enough to 
command the attention, respect, and support of 
the people. There must be a reaction from this 
weakening and wasteful policy ; already it has 
reached its limits; and consolidation or extinc- 
tion is the grim but salutary alternative pre- 
sented to many a little church to-day. It is 
high time for wise men and women to grapple 
with the problem and to advocate, against what- 
ever criticism, a plan of Christian organization 
and administration more worthy of the great 
interests of the gospel in human society. 

With some such result reached in the cities, 
there will be a different but not less effectual 
reform in the country districts. Co-operation is 
as needful there as in the towns ; and often it 
must be co-operation between the town churches 
and the rural churches : for, in some of our older 
States especially, the country districts have been 



314 The Spiritual Outlook. 

so largely drained of their best talent, and so 
reduced in prosperity by modem industrial 
changes, that they are not nearly so strong in 
moral and religious respects as they were a 
generation or two ago; and the cities which 
have gained at their expense need now to turn 
around and extend to them the helping hand. 
The fact is that the adequate religious care of 
rural neighborhoods is one of the serious prob- 
lems confronting the Christian people of our 
time. It cannot be solved at all without the 
wisest and most earnest co-operation of all the 
churches concerned in the difficult situation. 

Another vast benefit that must ensue from 
such Christian co-operation as this chapter pleads 
for will be the noble peace that shall fill the 
churches, and win the approbation of mankind, 
and teach the nations to put away strife. Who 
can wonder that people have held aloof from the 
churches on account of their divisions and con- 
tentions ? Who can doubt that their thorough 
exemplification of the great principle of co-op- 
eration for the good of the world would command 
the respect, love, and support of multitudes who 
are now indifferent or hostile, and would go far 



Christian Co-operation. 315 

to establish peace on earth and good-will among 
men? 

In this year of grace, 1901, millions of people 
have read, upon one of the great towers at the 
Pan-American Exposition, the following threefold 
inscription : — 

u The Brotherhood of Mankind 
The Federation of Nations 
The Peace of the World." 

The Christian churches of America have it in 
their power to lead toward a realization of the 
sublime ideal thus admirably presented by prac- 
tising among themselves the blessed, fruitful 
principle of co-operation. Will they hear and 
heed this high call of God for a new achievement 
in this new century ? I verily hope so. 



THE OUTLOOK FOR SPIRITUAL 
RELIGION. 




THE OUTLOOK FOR SPIRITUAL 
RELIGION. 

FTER a careful study of the significant 
developments which religious interests 
have undergone in recent times, it is 
well to forecast the immediate future. A true 
understanding of the past renders its best service 
by furnishing a wise guidance for the present ; 
but our present duties cannot be adequately con- 
sidered without some reference to the ends that 
lie directly before us. It is not much that any 
man can do to shape the course of events ; but 
the little that he may do is of sufficient moment 
to require of him the most enlightened and con- 
scientious conduct of which he is capable. 

I think the friends of pure and undefiled 
religion are chiefly concerned for its spiritual 
welfare. They do not ask so much about the 
prosperity of institutions as about the progress 
of the truth ; for they know that, while institu- 
tions are important, both as forms of expression 



320 The Spiritual Outlook. 

and as means of usefulness, they are subordinate 
to the spirit of life that lies within them, even 
as the human body is subordinate to the soul. 
When we come to care more for the soul of re- 
ligion than for its body, we shall be most sure 
to experience its quickening power, most willing 
to devote ourselves to its essential interests, and 
most ready to sympathize with every movement 
that represents some phase of its vital influence. 

Now to such people it is a gratifying fact that 
the prospect is very bright at present for the 
development of a higher form of spiritual religion 
than the world has yet seen. The outlook is not 
altogether undimmed, but on the whole it is 
remarkably encouraging ; and I believe we shall 
do our work better to-day and to-morrow if we 
perceive clearly the main respects in which this 
is true. We shall be likely to march with firmer 
tread if we see plainly the pathway in which we 
are to go. 

I. Let us begin by reminding ourselves what 
religion really is. Straightway we have to re- 
member that it presents two aspects, — the sub- 
jective and the objective. 

1. Subjectively considered, religion is a native 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 321 

instinct or sentiment, as truly an element in the 
spiritual constitution of the human soul as is 
reason or love or the moral sense. As such it is 
a living reality, — not an imaginary product, but 
a natural energy; and it may be as justly called 
one of the great forces of the world as may elec- 
tricity or gravity. 

We must duly appreciate this fundamental fact 
that the religious instinct in man is Divinely given 
by nature. It is not an afterthought, but a fore- 
thought. It is not imparted by miraculous pro- 
cess in a second birth, but is implanted by natural 
process in the first birth. It is not a new life 
communicated through a sacrament, but an 
original life generated in the creation of a spiri- 
tual being. Therefore it is not something to 
be superadded, but something to be evoked 
and developed. Here is the bed-rock upon 
which all agencies that undertake to minister 
to the religious needs of mankind must estab- 
lish themselves. Any other basis will prove to 
be quicksand. 

2. Objectively considered, religion is a form 

of worship or practice or teaching or work, or 

it may be a combination of all these, and may 

21 



322 The Spiritual Outlook. 

result in social organization for various purposes. 
As such it is an expression of the primary re- 
ligious impulse, together with other feelings and 
thoughts accompanying it; for men often put 
into their outward institutions of religion, not 
only the religious spirit which is the soul of them, 
but also much of their philosophy, art, govern- 
ment, and philanthropy. Thus it frequently hap- 
pens that what we call the religion of a people 
— meaning its rites, doctrines, creeds, polities, 
and enterprises — is really a very complex affair; 
in fact, in the higher stages of civilization, it is 
usually one of the most complex and delicate, as 
it is surely one of the highest and finest, products 
of the whole process of human development. 

Regarding religion in this external way, we 
can easily see how different groups of people, 
different tribes and nations, in different countries 
and ages, and in varying stages of culture, must 
have widely different religious systems. It is 
equally plain that these outward phenomena may 
change greatly, while the spirit of life lying back 
of them may abide and increase. 

11 Our little systems have their day, 

They have their day and cease to be;" 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 323 

but behind them all, throughout the world, there 
is the deep heart-hunger of the race which is a 
breath of divine aspiration, which is essentially 
the same everywhere and always, and which will 
take on new forms of manifestation as the older 
ones fail and fall away. We must constantly 
bear in mind this distinction between the transient 
and the permanent facts that religion is forever 
exhibiting. 

II. Let us next observe that the objective 
element in the religious history of the world has 
generally received far greater attention than the 
subjective. It was natural that it should be so. 
Primitive man lives mainly in the realm of the 
senses ; yet he is haunted by thoughts and feelings 
respecting the supersensuous ; and, being unable 
to comprehend these because of his undeveloped 
state of mind, but being nevertheless possessed 
and profoundly impressed by them, he is impelled 
to try to meet the requirements which they seem 
to lay upon him by using the resources at his 
command, which, of course, are almost wholly 
of a material nature. Hence it comes to pass 
that the objective side of the primitive man's 
religion is made up of outward acts, observances, 



324 The Spiritual Outlook. 

and sacrifices which arc usually very strict, minute, 
and elaborate. Dr. Daniel G. Brinton says that 
" no opinion can be more erroneous than the one 
sometimes advanced that savages are indifferent 
to their faiths. On the contrary, the rule, with 
very few exceptions, is that religion absorbs 
nearly the whole life of a man under primitive 
conditions. From birth to death, but especially 
during adult years, his daily actions are governed 
by ceremonial laws of the severest, often the 
most irksome and painful character. He has no 
independent action or code of conduct, and is a 
very slave to the conditions which such laws 
create. 

"This is especially visible," he continues, "in 
the world-wide customs of totemic divisions and 
the tabu, or religious prohibitions. These govern 
his food and drink, his marriage and social rela- 
tions, the disposition of property, and the choice 
of his wives. An infraction of them is out of 
the question. It means exile or death. The 
notions of tolerance, freedom of conscience, 
higher law, are non-existent in primitive com- 
munities, except under certain personal condi- 
tions which I shall mention in a later lecture." 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 325 

After quoting Professor Grangers remark that 
"religion in the ancient world comprised every 
social function," and the statement of another 
writer that " the idea of a separation between 
Church and State is utterly foreign to all the 
religions of antiquity," Dr. Brinton instances an 
example of the same truth regarding the all-per- 
vasiveness of religion among savage peoples to- 
day, in the case of the Dyaks of Borneo, of 
whom an observer says : " When they lay out 
their fields, gather the harvest, go hunting or 
fishing, contract a marriage, start on an expedi- 
tion, propose a commercial journey, or anything 
of importance, they always consult the gods, 
offer sacrifices, celebrate feasts, study the omens, 
obtain talismans, and so on." 1 

The meaning of these facts becomes plain if 
we take the evolutionary view of the world. 
In rude, primitive stages man, feeling the re- 
ligious impulse working strongly in his soul, but 
not understanding it, not knowing himself to be 
a spiritual being, and therefore not knowing 
what else to do, devotes himself to a multitude 
of external observances which impart a religious 

1 Keligions of Primitive Peoples, pp. 37-39. 



326 The Spiritual Outlook. 

character to nearly all his activities. These out- 
ward aspects of religion may, or may not, involve 
an ethical significance ; quite as often it is absent 
as present ; and indeed there is frequently a posi- 
tively immoral quality attaching to them. In 
fact, as one studies the various religious systems 
of mankind outside the pale of Christianity and 
Judaism, he is struck with the lack of the moral 
element in the vast majority of cases; and thus 
he sees that, for countless millions of the human 
race in the long, dark past, religion has been 
mainly a very crude, unspiritual affair, having an 
immense body of externalities and, behind them, 
only a dim perception of the divine realities 
which forever beset the souls of God's children. 
Slowly have these outward, objective forms di- 
minished, in those portions of the race that have 
grown in wisdom and spiritual stature, while 
the more interior, subjective aspects have gradu- 
ally increased. 

III. Let us now consider the relation of Chris- 
tianity to this development. Immediately we see 
that, as a system of teaching, it addresses itself 
to the great, common religious spirit in man ; 
and three or four extremely important facts con- 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 327 

nected with its genesis, its influence, and its his- 
tory claim our attention. 

1. In its earthly origin — say what you will 
of anything more — it was directly preceded and 
produced by the most spiritual religion of an- 
tiquity, which had been developed through two 
thousand years or more of racial experience. 
The Israelitish people had a genius for what may 
be called an ethical religion ; in them the spirit 
of righteousness dwelt with unusual power ; and 
their religious faith, worship, and teaching became 
more vital, personal, and devotional, more full of 
mercy and good fruits, than was the case with 
any of their contemporaries. Jesus of Nazareth, 
the Founder of Christianity, was a descendant of 
this race, " born of the seed of David according 
to the flesh ; " and it is the plainest of facts that 
in him, in his character and teachings, we see 
the highest and finest out-flowering of all that 
was deepest, purest, and most beautiful in the 
historic religion of his ancestry. 

2. Jesus Christ, however, lifted this ancient 
religion to a loftier level, into a clearer atmos- 
phere and a brighter sunshine, than it had ever 
reached before. He perceived; enunciated, and 



328 The Spiritual Outlook. 

p i. . — » 

inculcated its essential truths, while stripping 
away their accompanying accretions of error; 
he exemplified the holy spirit of loving com- 
munion with God and loving service to man ; he 
revealed God's character as paternal and perfect, 
and showed Him as nearer to the human soul 
than aught save consciousness can be, — the 
very Breath of its life ; and thus he opened the 
way for each human being to come into vital 
and dear relations with its indwelling Divine 
Father. So he transformed religion from being 
largely a thing of forms and observances to being 
a spirit of life in the soul, prompting to the most 
reverent, ethical, loving, and gracious conduct. 

By what insight or inspiration Jesus was en- 
abled to render this inestimable service to the 
religious interests of mankind I do not need to 
try to say. He explained it all as fully as it can 
be explained when he said, " I can of mine own 
self do nothing : the Father that dwelleth in me, 
He doeth the works." What I care most about 
is the fact; and the indisputable fact is that, 
somehow, this great Teacher, this spiritual Seer, 
this heavenly Soul, gave to the world the most 
exalted and vital religion, simple, natural, prac- 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 329 

tical, and full of blessing, that has ever been 
known, — superseding Judaism, surpassing all 
other ethnic religious systems, and constituting 
a spiritual gospel which is truly " the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth." 
3. But this highly spiritual religion, going out 
into the world to do its work among the nations, 
had to take men as it found them. In order to 
be accepted by them at all, it had to become sub- 
ject to their limitations, — had to cast in its lot 
with their imperfect lives, mix with their evil 
passions, affiliate with their sins and errors, 
share the fortunes of their philosophies, sciences, 
and governments, — and so be debased and cor- 
rupted by the very life of the world which it 
came to redeem by just this intimate contact 
and this immanent process. Accordingly Chris- 
tian history, from the days of the apostles until 
now, shows us how the gospel of Jesus has 
been submerged — though never lost — in the 
flood of human speculation, dogmatism, and 
institutionalism which was bound to engulf it, 
but which was destined to be purified by it. 
Jewish apocalyptic, Greek philosophy, Roman 
statecraft, together culminating in mediaeval 



330 The Spiritual Outlook. 

ecclesiasticism, have all but buried out of sight 
the simple, quickening, personal, spiritual teaching 
of the Son of Man ; and although, since the days 
of Martin Luther, it has been struggling to free 
itself from these historic grave-clothes, it has 
been a slow and painful process, which is not 
yet complete. The cerements of the tombs of 
the past still cling about it; but the critical 
thought of our time, friendly though uncompro- 
mising, is fast finishing the work of removing 
them, — only to reveal the fair form of a newly 
risen body of divine truth, instinct with life, 
radiant with beauty, and strong to serve and 
save mankind. Herein lies the great significance 
of the religious agitations and revolutions of our 
age, — they are recovering the simple, vital, spiri- 
tual teaching of Jesus Christ, freeing it from the 
human impedimenta of the past, and giving it an 
opportunity to speak its own uncorrupted and 
heavenly message to the yearning and responsive 
hearts of God's children. 

4. We must not pass over this long history, 
however, without remembering that the most 
essential and substantial doctrines of the gospel, 
including the main facts concerning the life and 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 331 

personality of Jesus and the great ideas, prin- 
ciples, and spirit which he inculcated, have never 
been wholly obscured. They have lived, and 
somehow they have shed their holy light even 
through the thickest clouds of human ignorance 
and sin, and have slowly thinned and dispelled 
them. Nor should we forget that it is mainly 
because of the preservation of the story of 
Christ's life and work, and likewise the story 
of the work and writings of his apostles, in the 
form of the New Testament literature that his 
religion has been thus perpetuated without far 
greater corruption than it has suffered, and is 
now so clearly recoverable by us. I doubt not 
that his teaching would have survived and won- 
derfully blessed the world, even had there been 
no written record of it whatever, so true and 
potent was it ; but, at the same time, if it had 
depended wholly upon oral tradition for its 
perpetuation, filtering down to us through the 
nations of Europe with all their gross imper- 
fections, how much more perverted it would 
have been, and how long it would have taken 
the world to come to anything like a clear and 
true apprehension of his pure, spiritual religion ! 



332 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Duly appreciating this fact, one can hardly be 
grateful enough that there has been a Bible, and 
that it has survived all the storms of European 
history ; and although it, too, has been often 
sadly misunderstood, and has been made almost 
a fetish sometimes, yet it is now emerging into 
the light of intelligence and taking its natural 
place as the artless record of a people that was 
wondrously educated in spiritual things, and as 
containing for its most precious legacy the story 
of the life and teaching of the world's Redeemer. 
IV. Now from this sweeping glance at the 
vast religious evolution that lies behind us, 
showing us that the religious instinct in man is 
God-given, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ 
addresses itself to this instinct, not to create it 
but to educate it, we can see that, after all the 
centuries of development, the most advanced 
portions of Christendom are already in the dawn 
of a new and glorious day for spiritual religion. 
The process will go on. The progress that has 
been made is the surest pledge that still further 
progress will ensue. The knowledge which has 
so marvellously accumulated is not going to be, 
in the long run, the enemy of vital religion, but 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 333 

rather its powerful ally. Liberty, likewise, is 
going to be its mighty friend. Above all, the 
spiritual hunger of the Christian world is going 
to crave the bread of life which Jesus of Nazareth 
blessed and brake. The churches are not drifting 
away from him ; they are drawing nearer to him. 
He leads on their development ; in him is life, 
and the life is the light of men ; and the purest 
men everywhere who have seen that light are 
longing to realize in themselves more of that 
life. The best demand of the age, in every 
branch of the Christian Church, is for just such 
a simple, vital, personal, loving, saving, spiritual 
religion as that Peerless Teacher exemplified so 
beautifully, and poured forth into the souls of 
men like a river of the water of life. Be sure 
that it will go on cleansing the world, — 
cleansing individual lives of sin, cleansing so- 
cial conditions, cleansing governments, and also 
cleansing the other religious systems of the 
nations by purifying, rectifying, sanctifying, 
vitalizing, and spiritualizing them. 

Some difficulties and dangers, however, con- 
front this great movement. Aside from those 
which subsist in the wide, out-lying world, — 



334 The Spiritual Outlook. 

the vice and crime, the strife and war, the greed 
and cruelty, the ignorance and superstition, the 
disease and misery of the millions of people who 
are as yet untouched or but slightly influenced 
by the spirit of Christ's gospel, — there are still 
some serious obstacles to the progress of spiritual 
religion within the Christian churches. With- 
out dwelling upon them, I may mention such 
as these : The lingering influence of ancient 
speculative thought; the gross misconceptions, 
originating therein, of the miraculous officialism 
of Christ's work; the elaborate dogmatism re- 
sulting largely therefrom ; the overshadowing 
power of ecclesiastical institutions ; the narrow- 
ing effects of sectarianism ; the deadening effects 
of Biblical literalism ; the undue scope of emo- 
tionalism; the insidious seductions of high- 
wrought ritualism; and the excessive reliance 
upon organization. Against all these old and 
sturdy evils, more baneful than the new skepti- 
cism of which we complain much, we shall 
have to contend very earnestly if we desire 
to promote the interests of a vital, spiritual 
religion. 

In order to overcome these obstacles, we 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 335 

must have a clear conception of what spiritual 
religion really is, and then we must realize it in 
our own lives, and so supplant a traditionary, 
formal, dogmatic, sacerdotal religion by ex- 
emplifying something better. 

1. What, then, is meant by the term spiritual 
religion ? Perhaps each person must answer 
this question largely for himself; and yet the 
best answer that one man can give must have 
something good and true in it for other men. 
As far as my own apprehension of the truth goes 
at present, I find the clearest answer to this 
question and its implications in the teaching 
of Jesus Christ, as it reaches me through the 
alembic of history and is confirmed by my 
deepest and highest religious experiences. 

It is plain that Jesus made religion a concern 
of the inmost soul. He attached little im- 
portance to externalities of any sort, — to times 
and seasons, to places and ceremonies, to in- 
stitutions and ordinances ; but the burden of his 
emphasis was always upon the inner spirit. He 
taught men to let their alms-givings, prayers, and 
fastings be in secret ; he told them that hatred 
and illicit desire were virtually as reprehensible 



336 The Spiritual Outlook. 

as murder and adultery; he showed them that 
they must forgive one another from the heart, if 
they themselves expected to be forgiven by the 
Father. The Sermon on the Mount is full of 
this kind of teaching. To the woman of Samaria 
he said that neither Gerizim nor Jerusalem was 
a necessary place of worship, but that the true 
worshippers were those who should worship in 
spirit and in truth. He criticised some of the 
religious leaders of his time because they were 
so very strict about all outward observances, 
while yet they were inwardly selfish, bigoted, 
proud, and unmerciful. He summed up the 
nature of his great message by saying, u It is 
the spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth 
nothing : the words that I have spoken unto you 
are spirit, and are life." x The only external 
feature upon which he may be said to have laid 
stress was deeds of kindness ; but no one can 
doubt for a moment that he would have every 
such deed spring from a spirit of sincere benevo- 
lence in the heart. So the very essence of his 
religion was love, — love to God, and love to 
man. This, of course, is the most familiar of 

1 John vi. 63. 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 337 

statements to Christian people; but its truth 
can never be too clearly apprehended. 

The conduct of Jesus corresponded with his 
utterances. So far as the artless Narratives 
enable us to see him, the picture they yield is 
of the simple consistency of perfect genuineness 
on his part. " He lived the precepts which he 
taught." He never seems to have spoken for 
effect merely, or to have acted to be seen of 
men. He was natural, honest, straightforward, 
and always the same poised, serene Teacher, 
perfectly sure of his footing. While he observed 
the festivals and customs of his people to a con- 
siderable extent, he was never a slave to them, 
and did not hesitate to set them aside if occasion 
warranted, — sufficiently indicating his own posi- 
tion and that of his followers by saying, " The 
Son of man also is lord of the Sabbath." x In- 
deed, it was largely this indifference to estab- 
lished usages, and to religious institutionalism in 
general, that angered the ruling classes and led 
at last to his unhappy fate. He was not at all a 
sacerdotalist ; he was emphatically a vital spirit- 
ualist. As such, both his words and his example 

i Mark ii. 23. 
22 



338 The Spiritual Outlook. 

make him the one great, clear, consummate Ex- 
ponent of spiritual religion presented by past 
ages, — as if to warn us from the very rocks upon 
which we are forever in danger of dashing our- 
selves, and as if to reveal for our benefit the 
simple beauty and power of a human life brought 
into perfect harmony with the Divine Spirit ! 

Now, I am absolutely sure that my own deep- 
est and purest religious experiences afford me a 
strong confirmation of the truthfulness of my 
Master's teaching in this respect. These expe- 
riences have been in no wise exceptional, but on 
the contrary have been very limited and un- 
doubtedly inferior to those of many a better 
man. Yet when one can thoughtfully and hon- 
estly say that his own best life — poor as it may 
have been — has borne witness to the soundness 
of the principles and spirit of Christ's gospel, he 
is simply proving by experiment the truth whose 
supreme test is to be found in just this way — 
by practice. Thus he is doing what the architect 
does when he erects a building, — demonstrating 
the trustworthiness of his working principles in 
the only possible manner. It is one of the sur- 
passing excellences of the religion of Jesus, 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 339 

being spiritual, that it can be so demonstrated. 
Well, then, as far as the testimony of my own 
best life goes, it is all to the effect that Jesus 
Christ was profoundly true and right in incul- 
cating the kind of religion which I have called 
spiritual, and which I have tried briefly to de- 
scribe in the two preceding paragraphs. 

Judging thus out of my own understanding of 
the teaching of Jesus, as tested and confirmed 
by personal experience, I should say that spir- 
itual religion is supremely an affair of the soul. 
As such, it involves at least these elements : the 
clearest and truest thought that one is capable 
of reaching ; the deepest and purest feeling that 
may fill the heart, — the feeling of reverence, 
awe, dependence, and yearning for communion 
with the Divine Spirit ; the strongest inner con- 
viction or assurance that one can have of the 
spiritual verities; the soundest principles of 
conduct issuing from this inner life and its de- 
velopment through experience ; the most sin- 
cere and thoroughgoing morality that may be 
prompted and realized by the Spirit in the inner 
man ; the right ordering^ therefore, of the out- 
ward conduct ; the wisest active benevolence that 



340 The Spiritual Outlook. 

may put one into truest co-operation with God ; 
and all the sweet, sanctifying, upbuilding influ- 
ences of the Life of God in the human soul which 
one, thus living, aspiring, praying, loving, serv- 
ing, trusting, sorrowing, rejoicing, may experi- 
ence year by year. Something like all this must 
be the character of any vital, spiritual religion ; 
and it is the highest glory of our race that it 
is realized in some measure by all who have 
learned, in whatever way, to recognize the spirit 
of holiness in their hearts. 

2. It is this kind of religion — inner, vital, 
potent — that all the churches of Christendom 
are really instituted to promote. In order to 
promote it in any degree, each individual must 
personally apprehend and realize it as best he 
can. There is no other way. External institu- 
tions of every sort are distinctly secondary. The 
primary and indispensable requisite for the com- 
munication and transmission of spiritual truth is 
the possession of that truth by some one. Only 
life can give life. When one soul is quickened, 
it can quicken other souls ; but not until then. 
Our constant temptation is to rest in customs, 
forms, ordinances, machinery ; our constant need 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 341 

is to vitalize all these by vitalizing ourselves 
through contact with God as we seek to feel 
after Him and find Him within. We must our- 
selves be in tune with the Divine Spirit before 
there will be music enough in our lives to bring 
other lives into the same blessed harmony. This 
is the fundamental truth upon which we must rest 
in all our practical conduct of religious work. 

Standing squarely upon this ground, where we 
recognize the natural and inalienable religious- 
ness of man, and seeking to promote a vital, spiri- 
tual type of religion by vital and spiritual processes 
rather than by external means of any sort, we 
may be encouraged to hope for its growth in the 
world by seeing what powerful allies are work- 
ing with us toward the same great end. 

(1) Knowledge is one of these ; for the min- 
istry of knowledge is a ministry not only of en- 
lightenment, but also of life. If truth is of God, 
then an understanding of the truth must be in 
some measure an apprehension of God. St. 
Clement of Alexandria used to contend that the 
human reason was a revelation of God; by 
which I suppose that he meant that the opera- 
tions of thought, the exercise of imagination and 



342 The Spiritual Outlook. 

judgment, disclosed God, and that thus God 
manifested Himself to men. I believe we need 
to appreciate the validity of this conception, and 
so to remember that one of God's ways of work- 
ing in our human world is through the thinking, 
the learning, of each soul. Therefore the increase 
of knowledge must eventuate in an increase of 
spiritual vitality ; and while for a time it will 
remove " those things that can be shaken " in 
the historic structure of our systems of belief, it 
will but subserve to test and demonstrate the 
everlasting stability of " those things which can- 
not be shaken." Hence we are to welcome all 
genuine knowledge as the mighty coadjutor of 
spiritual religion. 

(2) Another such helper is the influence of 
Nature, which has been rediscovered in our age. 
One familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures cannot 
fail to perceive the power of this influence throb- 
bing through those majestic writings, so that 
Emerson was wholly right in saying, — 

" Out from the heart of Nature rolled 
The burdens of the Bible old." 

While just now we are under the sway of the 
scientific interpretation of Nature, and therefore 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 343 

are prone to see her mainly in her rigorous, cruel 
aspects, we may rest assured that this is not the 
only interpretation, but that the poetic spirit and 
the religious spirit will reassert themselves and 
continue to be fed at her bountiful board. 
"Through Nature to God," the title of Mr. John 
Fiske's book, is a true phrase which indicates an 
open way, broader now than ever before, by which 
the spirit of man may seek communion with the 
immanent Spirit of God. Therefore I believe 
that the influence of Nature will prove ultimately 
a most potent factor in displacing the religion of 
the cloister and the creeds by the healthier 
religion of the field, the sky, and the stupendous 
panorama of those infinite realms where the 
Almighty Life pulsates with quickening energies 
that touch responsive chords in the human soul. 
(3) Again, the goodness of the world at large 
must contribute, however unwittingly, to the 
growth of that spiritual type of religion of which 
virtue and love are most important constituents. 
The old idea of the utter depravity of human 
nature has given place to a recognition of the in- 
herent dignity and excellence of a being made in 
the image of God. While imperfect, in process of 



344 The Spiritual Outlook. 

development, and therefore still partially evil, man 
is nevertheless a child of the Eternal Goodness ; 
hence the spirit of the Divine Paternity is in his 
heart, prompting him to moral endeavor and to 
all affectionate behavior. This native excellence, 
filling the world with varied forms of beneficence 
and loving kindness, is forever co-operating with 
all other influences, conscious or unconscious, 
which are building up a nobler, fairer, and more 
benevolent religious life among men. 

(4) The direct ministry of Jesus Christ, re- 
inforcing whatever of such native goodness there 
is in mankind, must continue to be the strongest 
single factor in the production and extension of 
a vital, spiritual religion. He said that he came 
that men might have life, and might have it 
abundantly. We all feel that he is the one 
great life-giver whom history makes known to us. 
His supreme mission is to quicken human souls 
into newness of life. As men come more and 
more clearly to see him, to understand him, to 
experience the contact of his mighty spirit upon 
their spirits, they are sure to receive impressions 
and inspirations which must vitalize and spirit- 
ualize the religious energies that slumber or 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 3-15 

struggle in their hearts. He is now being made 
known to men more widely and more truly than 
ever before : how, then, can it be otherwise than 
that his personal, vivifying, holy influence shall 
promote everywhere the spiritualization of the 
religious life of the world ? His power is not 
waning. His words are the words of eternal 
life ; and his example is the brightest light we 
have, shining out of the past, to guide us into 
the future. Let us be sure that those words will 
not prove false, and that that light will never fail. 
(5) Finally, beneath and through all other in- 
fluences working toward the end here considered, 
is the indwelling life of God in the lives of men. 
This is the most precious conception in the re- 
ligious thought of our age. God is not only with 
us, but within us ; He is not only our Creator 
and our Father, but also our Everlasting Inspirer. 
By a living process He works within us to 
prompt, urge, check, reprove, correct, guide, 
comfort, sanctify. In all this He deals with us 
as with sons, in Paternal love. He will never 
leave us nor forsake us ; but some of His discip- 
linary dealings with us may be terribly severe, if 
we need such. He is forever our Refuse and 



346 The Spiritual Outlook. 

Strength. We may find Him and know Him, 
because He is not far from every one of us, but 
in Him we live and move and have our being. 
Without and within, above and below, behind 
and before, the immanent God is our Light and 
our Salvation. Whatever else may fail, He 
abides and works and loves forevermore. He is 
the ultimate Source of all spiritual life in us ; 
He is the ultimate Goal of all our spiritual de- 
velopment ; upon Him we may depend to build 
up the children of men, through the ages, 
" into the glorious liberty of the children of 
God." Religion, therefore, must become increas- 
ingly a conscious communion, harmony, and co- 
operation with the indwelling Divine Spirit that 
is the Soul of the universe. 

When the vital, spiritual type of religion 
herein depicted shall have been more fully real- 
ized, and all the churches shall have begun to 
feel its mighty influence, we shall soon see the 
fruits of it in a more thorough spiritualization of 
our whole civilization. At present our civiliza- 
tion is predominantly materialistic and intellect- 
ual : it must be spiritualized; or it will fail of its 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 347 

legitimate fruition : it is the great business of the 
Christian Church to help spiritualize it; and 
when the Church itself becomes profoundly 
quickened and vivified by the power of a truly 
spiritual religion, it can and will fulfil this sanc- 
tifying mission for every human interest in our 
world. Therefore I believe I am justified in 
saying that the highest product of recent develop- 
ments, particularly during the nineteenth century, 
is that spiritualization of religion which has 
taken place already to a gratifying extent, but 
which it will be our solemn duty to promote 
with all our strength in the twentieth century. 
Here lies the great responsibility of the Chris- 
tian Church, and especially of its teachers and 
leaders. If it shall be adequately met, the bless- 
ings that will surely follow in due time will 
surpass our fondest dreams at present. 



The conclusion reached by the foregoing review 
of the spiritual conditions, forces, and tendencies 
of our age is, that we are ever to cherish, incul- 
cate, and exemplify, as best we can, the religion 
of faith, hope, and love. 



348 The Spiritual Outlook. 

We are to have that faith in man which is 
essentially an intelligent, deeply grounded, patient 
confidence in his spiritual potentiality ; and that 
faith in God which is an enlightened under- 
standing of the Divine Order that upholds the 
universe, and a spirit of sweet resignation to His 
wise and righteous will. 

We are to have that hope for the continued 
progress of civilization, for the growth of the 
kingdom of heaven, and for our own personal 
spiritual development, which rests upon the sub- 
lime facts of our human nature, of the evolution- 
ary method of the universe, and of the eternal 
power of the immanent God; and which yet 
does not ignore any of the terrible phenomena 
and forces of evil in the world, but rather nerves 
us to fight them in the might of the Holy Spirit. 

And we are to have that love which is born of 
God and makes us know most truly what God 
is ; that love for Him which is the divine life of 
the soul, which is our strength, our peace, our 
joy ; and that love for our fellow-men which is 
the spiritual sunshine of the world, which fills 
all our human relationships with sympathy and 
helpfulness, which abates all strife and needless 



The Outlook for Spiritual Religion. 349 

suffering, and which instils into the hearts of 
men an ineffable sweetness and gladness. 

" And now abideth faith, hope, love, — these 
three ; and the greatest of these is love." 

Thus our study culminates in a renewal of 
the Christian spirit, attitude, and purpose ; under 
whose influence we can say, as we hold both the 
past and the future in our vision, seeing how in 
the course of time God makes evil fail and right 
prevail, — 

" The outworn rite, the old abuse, 

The pious fraud transparent grown, 
The good held captive in the use 
Of wrong alone, — 

" These wait their doom, from that great law 
Which makes the past time serve to-day ; 
And fresher life the world shall draw 
From their decay. 

" God works in all things ; all obey 

His first propulsion from the night : 
Wake thou and watch ! — the world is gray 
With morning light t " 1 

i Whittier, "The Keformer." 



JAMES MARTINEAU 

A BIOGRAPHY AND A STUDY 
By REV. A. W. JACKSON, 

Author of "Deafness and Cheerfulness."" 
With photogravure portraits. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top. $3.00 

The Outlook says, u For one who desires to get the spirit 
of Dr. Martineau's teaching in brief compass, , . . we know 
of no volume comparable to this." 

The Church Standard terms it " an invaluable picture of 
that gracious presence and commanding intellect." 

John White Chadwick, in The Critic, says: "He could 
not have been more fortunate than in his selection or ac- 
ceptance of Mr. Jackson to be the expositor and interpreter 
of his far-shining thoughts." 

HOURS OF THOUGHT 
ON SACRED THINGS 

By JAMES MARTINEAU 

First Series. i6mo. $1.50 

You cannot read a page without pausing to think, without 
finding that the writer has given a new dress to an old truth, 
or drawn fresh conclusions out of the issues of current life. 
. . . Once one has begun to read, the meditation is so 
earnest, the thought so fresh, the tone so inward and vital, 
that the reader finds himself insensibly lifted up into a new 
sphere, breathing a new atmosphere, and conscious that the 
familiar truths of mental and spiritual life are exhibited in a 
new aspect. — New York Times. 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY, Publishers 
254 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts. 



ERNEST RENAN'S WRITINGS 

HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF 
ISRAEL. 5 vols. 8vo. #12.50. Separate 
volumes, #2.50 each. 

Vol. I. Till the Time of King David. Vol. II. From the 
Reign of David up to the Capture of Samaria. Vol. III. 
From the Time of Hezekiah till the Return from Babylon. 
Vol. IV. From the Rule of the Persians to that of the 
Greeks. Vol. V. Period of Jewish Independence and Judea 
under Roman Rule. With an index to the five volumes. 

The first two volumes contain the analysis of the events 
that led up to the rise of the prophets; in the third he 
unfolds his view of those prophets ; while the last two illus- 
trate the course of the prophetical ideas, steadily making 
their way, despite constantly recurring backsets, till their final 
triumph in Jesus. Nothing that he has done reveals the 
brilliancy of his mind and the greatness of his intellectual 
grasp as does this monument, which he was fortunately 
permitted to finish before his life came to an end. 

THE APOSTLES : Including the period from 
the death of Jesus until the greater missions of 
Paul. Translated and edited by Joseph Henry 
Allen, D.D., late lecturer on Ecclesiastical His- 
tory in Harvard University. 8vo. $2.50. 

ANTICHRIST. Translated and edited by Joseph 
Henry Allen. 8vo. $2.50. 

LIFE OF JESUS. From the twenty-third and 
final French edition. With Notes. Revised and 
enlarged. 8vo. $2.50. 

THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE. Demy 8vo. 
$2.50. 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY, Publishers 
254 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts. 



EDWARD EVERETT HALE'S WORKS 



NEW LIBRARY EDITION 

In Ten Volumes. i2mo. Cloth, extra. Per volume, 
$1.50. Any volume sold separately. 



The new Library Edition of Dr. Hale's works is 
issued under the supervision of the author, including 
revision and new matter. 

Vol. I. The Man Without a Country, and Other 
Stories. 

Vol. II. In His Name, and Christmas Stories. 

Vol. III. Ten Times One, and Other Stories. 

Vol. IV. The Brick Moon, and Other Stories. 

Vol. V. Philip Nolan's Friends. 

Vol. VI. A New England Boyhood, Etc. 

Vol. VII. How to Do it, and How to Live. 

Vol. VIII. Addresses and Essays on Subjects of His- 
tory, Education, and Government. 

Vol. IX. Sybaris, and How They Lived in Hampton. 

Vol. X. Poems, Criticisms, and Literary Essays. 



LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY, Publishers 
254 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts. 



important morlte on tyz puritans 

By EZRA HOYT BYINGTON, D.D. 



RECENTLY ISSUED 

THE PURITAN AS A COLONIST AND 
A REFORMER. Illustrated. 8vo. $2.00 net 

As a reading book of history it cannot be surpassed. The 
chapters on John Eliot and the treatment of the Indians by 
the settlers of New England are superb. — The Independent. 

Such a book as could be prepared only by a thorough 
scholar and by extended research. The chapter upon Jona- 
than Edwards is of great value, and that upon Shakespeare 
and the Puritans is most interesting and ingenious. — Presi- 
dent George E. Merrill, D.D., Colgate University. 

THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND 
NEW ENGLAND. With an Introduction 
by Alexander McKenzie, D.D., Minister of the 
First Church in Cambridge, U. S. A. 8vo. Three 
Illustrations. $2.00 net. 

Many books have been written about the Puritans, but no 
such continued study of the men and their work has ever 
before been projected. — New York Herald. 

This is a very interesting and permanently valuable volume. 
Its style also is clear and vigorous, and is eminently readable 
from cover to cover. — The Congregationalism 

BY THE SAME AUTHOR 

THE CHRIST OF YESTERDAY, TO- 
DAY, AND FOREVER, and Other Ser- 
mons. i2mo. #1.50 net. 

In substance, method, and tone, the sermons are excellent. 
They are full of suggestion, modern, orthodox, and interest- 
ing. It would be difficult to find a more helpful homiletic 
treatment of the atonement than that presented in the ser- 
mon on " Christ, the Man of Sorrows." — The Churchman. 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY, Publishers 
254 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts. 



27954 SEP 26 19 



1 COPY DEL TO CAT. DtV. 
SEP. 26 1902 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



■UIIUIIIIIllllllllllll 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





013 371 969 6 



ii 



111 



